


Wonderland Ain't Got Shit On This

by FollowtheMoon



Category: Pitch Black (2000), Riddick (2013), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), The Chronicles of Riddick Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 08:51:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10963839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollowtheMoon/pseuds/FollowtheMoon
Summary: She wasn't looking for a man. Wasn't looking to get thrown into one of her favorite movies. She wasn't looking for danger or happiness. But here she was. She can't complain too terribly much though. Not when she had him.Riddick wasn't looking for a woman. Wasn't looking to be taken care of. Wasn't looking for HER. But there she was, and you wouldn't hear him complain. He liked having her around."You sure like taking care of me, sweetheart."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to post this here. I also have it on fanfiction.net, but here it is.

_Just another day trying to get through the bullshit. Maybe I'll enjoy a movie or something._  I sighed as I unlocked the door to my house. I shrugged out of my raincoat, revealing a black undershirt fitted snugly against a generous bosom, and a trim waist. My jeans, while clinging to my hips, weren't ungodly tight. I could do heavy manual labor in them if needed, but I usually just wore them for painting some odd piece here or there. As it was, they were splattered with various pigments. I still held onto my large purse that was more of a messenger bag with lots of weird things in it, such as a highpowered lantern, A fold up tazing rod, large cans of tea, lots of breakfast bars, a med kit with suture supplies added in as well, and lots of tampons and pads. My heavy duty biker boots left no noise as I made my way to the friendly looking couch. I froze.

Someone was there. I discretely scented the air and confirmed my suspicion. My eyes narrowed as I swept my surroundings. Being kidnapped and tortured again did not appeal to me, to be honest. As my eyes scanned my living room and found no anomaly, I found my muscles slowly relaxing despite my unease. I tensed as I felt a presence behind me and swiveled around to see pale, almost translucent, eyes before the world went dark.

_"Forgive me, child. But you are needed to push the odds in our world's favor."_

* * *

 

Red lights and alarms blaring woke me from my forced slumber. I was sprawled on the floor as I took in my new surroundings. Glass coffin like boxes lit up in red lights lined both sides of me, seeming very familiar. "Fuck!" I grunted as I avoided something falling on me and latched onto a pole, locking my arms together. I struggled to my feet as I watched the ship break apart around me. I looked behind me to see a blond haired man clutching to another beam. The sudden force of finally crashing sent me to my knees. My vision wavered before going black.

My senses came back to me one at a time, the screaming of a man the first thing to break my catatonic state. The lack of shaking and movement of the ground reminded to me to finally unlock my arms from the beam, noting the bruises from the beam, and my own grip. I carefully stepped over bits of scrap metal and other miscellaneous objects. My mind was in total chaos as I numbly watched the man, Owens, screaming for Fry not to touch the handle. With growing horror, I realized just where I was.  _When I thought about enjoying a movie, this was not what I had in mind!_

"Leave!" I looked up to see the docking pilot cradling Owens' head as he was dying. I felt as If I had tunnel vision as I carefully followed the others. Something from the corner of my eye caught my attention. Riddick. I felt anger build in my chest as I stared at his bound and gagged form. I deviated from my path and stood before the killer, frowning at the inhumane treatment he had been forced through. Mercs really had no honor.

Riddick tilted his head and his nostrils flared slightly. He's scenting me. I fought back a smirk at the abstract thought. I moved to take a step forward, only to be stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I tensed and turned slowly, mindful of a low, rumbling growl now behind me.

"I wouldn't get too close to him. He just escaped from a triple max prison. Probably hasn't seen a beautiful woman in a while." Johns smirked down at me. My eyes narrowed. My temper rose at the mercenary before me.

"He's a convict, so I understand the restraints, though I don't agree with them in this situation, but the sensory deprivation and a horse bit is inhumane on animals, let alone people!" My voice started low, and with every word grew louder until I had gained the other's attention. The growling behind me ceased. Johns' eyebrows lifted in surprise but a low simmering anger was beginning to make itself known in the depths of his eyes.

"What's your point, dollface?" He ground out as the others began to murmur uneasily.

"My point, mister mercenary, is that I will not stand to see anyone treated so inhumanely. I'm taking off the blindfold and bit." I growled out. I jerked free from his touch and took a confident step toward Riddick.

"I don't think he'll appreciate you blinding him." Johns' voice gave me pause. "He can't see in the light. Hurts like a bitch, I imagine." I shot a glare behind me to the smirking merc and looked around for the goggles he would have commandeered anyway. Finding them, I checked them over for any cracks and found none.

"This should do." I murmured to myself. I moved closer to the bound convict slowly, so as not to show threat. I stuffed the goggles in my right pocket and took my last step toward the bound man.

"Don't blame me if he rips your throat out." I ignored the venom in the mercs voice as I eyed Riddick.

"I hope you can forgive the breach of personal space, sir, but I'd like to take out your bit, if you would allow me." I spoke up, waiting for some form of consent. I only had to wait a beat before he gave one slow nod. "Okay. Let's see, The latch holding it in place is in the back..." I continued in a regular volume before murmuring in a lower octave so that our audience couldn't hear. "There's a break in the beam holding you here a bit further up. I hope that's of some help?"

"What're you saying, dollface?" Johns voice probably was meant to sound intimidating, but only managed to irritate me.

"I was just saying that he's pretty tall, so I'm having trouble taking the bit off and was hoping that he'd slide down just a bit, though I know it's uncomfortable." As I spoke, Riddick slowly slid down until I was able to successfully unlatch the bit. I leaned back a bit and carefully pulled the bit out of his mouth and began to rub the muscles in his jaws. I could feel tension in his jaw that was very familiar to me. "I'm going to pop your jaw now, okay? Just to avoid any muscle lockup." He gave a curt nod, still not moving from his semi crouched position. I quickly applied pressure to the joints and was rewarded with a resounding pop. He shifted his jaw a bit to be sure that it wasn't still stiff.

Though still impeded by the blindfold, he gave a smirk that had me answering with an amused chuckle. "Better?" He gave a wordless nod, and my hands moved to work at the knots of his blindfold. His face turned to his left where my right arm had tried to circle around to reach the knot. I froze as I caught him scenting me again. "Sorry. I should have warned you. I have some goggles that may be of some use to you, if you'd allow me to take off your blindfold?"

"Sure, sweetheart. Don't mind at all." Riddicks voice was a low rumble, reminiscent of a toffee flavored coffee and a teasing bit of honey. I forced myself not to react obviously to his voice but there was little I could do about my own scent. He bowed his head a bit as I worked to unravel the godforsaken knots. His nose was buried in the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent, unnoticed by the audience we still had. I thought perhaps I should ask his name.

"I haven't introduced myself. I'm Samantha. Samantha Warren." My nails worked at the tight first loops of the knot.

"Name's Richard. Richard Riddick." He rumbled into my throat. I thanked my lucky stars I wasn't wearing perfume right then, imagining how overwhelming the scent would have been.

"Richard. That's a good name." I murmured as I managed to finally loosen the first part of the knot. As I worked at the second layer of knots, a sharp pain made me freeze momentarily as I took in the shouts of horror. I continued unraveling the blindfold, mindful of my shoulder that Riddick had latched onto with his teeth. "Calm down everyone." I calmly rose my voice to be heard. The cacophony of shouts quieted. "He's just trying to scare you. He's not harming me. He could bite a deal harder before he broke the skin." I continued on in a calm manner, managing to unravel his blindfold. "I need to reach the goggles in my pocket, Richard. Please don't bite down too hard while I move." I was answered by a throaty chuckle before he went back to biting down and giving a bit of suction. "I can't put the goggles on you if you're biting me, Richard." I informed him, amusement coloring my voice. Another chuckle rumbled into my shoulder before he let me loose, Revealing an angry purple bruise surrounded by indentations of his teeth.

I carefully set the goggles on his head, lowering them to his eyes. "Hows that feel? Can you see alright?" I checked to adjust the band around his head.

He answered with a smirk. "Fucking perfect, sweetheart."

I backed away without issue, a smile on my face. "Good to hear. Now, I've got places to be, things to do to get off this rock, that sort of thing. See ya." I turned and traipsed out of the crashed ship, passed the the slack jawed survivors.

"She's awesome!" Jack said in admiration. I chuckled.

* * *

 

"So, no water in that thing, huh?" I tilted my head as I watched the others, barring the Chrislams, drinking booze.

"No. The water in the ship drained out when something took out the tank." Shazza informed me.

"Lovely." My voice dripped with sarcasm. "Well, I'll pass. Aside from my purse, I might find some of my luggage. I think I packed something useful." I full out lied. I just wanted to get away from them. I pulled out my LED flash light as I entered the cargo hold. I checked the whole area over once before coming back to everyone shouting in mayhem. "What's going on?" I eyed everyone in false confusion.

"Riddick escaped." Johns snarled in agitation. "Go find weapons to arm yourselves with. Everybody needs a weapon." Everybody scrambled to find something in the cargo while I just watched dazedly as they all left me with the blue eyed devil. I turned back to him, frowning my confusion.

"He escaped?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"Yeah, he escaped." He ran his fingers through his hair. He eyed me. "You should probably go get yourself a weapon."

"Don't need to." I shrugged.

"Just cuz you think he ain't gonna hurt you don't mean you don't need a weapon." He frowned at me.

"Oh, I know." I pulled my tazing rod from the side pocket of my purse to show him. He eyed it warily, realizing I hadn't said it was for Riddick. "Never leave home without insurance."

"That's- that's good." He stammered. He was clearly unnerved by my painful looking stick.

The others came back, Paris burdened with his collectibles as the others gave him odd looks for his troubles.

He explained the use of each along with its level of rarity while the others laughed at his collection.

"Why should it matter? He's already gone, why would he come back and bother us?" Paris asked in a huff.

"Maybe to take what ya got. Maybe to work your nerves. Maybe he'll come and skull fuck you in your sleep." Johns grinned, loving the looks of terror on the others faces.

"Sounds like a charmer." Shazza grumbled.

"Don't he just?" I rolled my eyes as I muttered back to her. She snickered and I just smirked.

* * *

 

At some point, Shazza and Zeke had managed to rig up oxygen for the 'one lung short' effect everyone seemed to be dealing with. Shazza passed me one and I carefully put it on. We were just figuring who would go in search of water and Riddick, and who would stay, when Paris came stumbling in to tell everyone that we needed to see something.

Outside, we came to an unpleasant realization.

"Three suns?" I couldn't figure out who spoke in my wonder at the beauty in the landscape.

Johns was muttering how that didn't bode well since Riddick went toward sunrise.

He and Fry seemed to a discussion on how he knew that. I ignored the two in favor of Imam.

"We take this as a good sign from Allah. Blue sun means blue water." Imam's unshakable optimism made me sigh.

"Ever wonder why I'm an Atheist?" Zeke grumbled.

"Don't be an ass." I bit out as I moved toward the group of Chrislams. I heard Zeke huff behind me. I made sure nobody noticed my movements. "Imam. You and yours don't have anything to drink, right?" I confirmed.

"Yes, I am afraid we have nothing to-" I pushed two cans of my tea into his hands.

"Tea. Don't let the others see it. They've got booze to drink." I smiled.

"We cannot take your tea, miss. What will you drink?" Imam tried to refuse.

"I have another one in my bag. Don't worry about me." I grinned at him. "Just don't tell the others. No need for arguments, right?"

He nodded grimly, calling his boys to pray.

"Where they going?" Johns walked up. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise at the invasion of my space and turned my head to find him not far from my back. I moved away from the merc with a barely contained snarl.

"From what I understand, they went to pray. Needed some privacy." I barely kept my tone civil.

"I was wondering." Johns made to get in my space again, though I didn't allow it. "What a pretty little thing like you was doing, traveling alone?"

"Not that pretty," I grunted, folding my arms across my chest, hoping he'd drop the subject.

"You don't think so?" Johns tried again to get me cornered, and succeeding, as I backed into the broken hull. "Riddick sure seemed to like you."

"I removed his bit. Of course he seemed to like the only one who wasn't hard pressed to treat him like a person rather than a wild animal or the scum on the sole of my shoes." I scoffed at his logic.

"I guess you're right." He chuckled humorlessly. "So how'd you know I wasn't a cop?"

"I can always pick a cop from a lineup. Even dirty cops got something about them that shows through. You don't look or act or feel like a cop. Even with your badge." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay." He nodded as he leaned forward, intent on kissing me when a dry gust of wind slapped his scent in my face. I shoved him away as I began to dry heave. "What the hell?" He near shouted in aggravation.

"You smell like a  _hospital_." I hissed in disdain after the feeling of nausea dissipated. I left him gaping in silence, looking for something to do.

_Disgusting!_


	2. Chapter 2

"So, just to be clear, you don't need my help. I stayed behind as an extra hand and y'all don't even need it?" I lifted an eyebrow at Shazza.

"You're free to look around. Act as scout. Lord knows, Paris won't be of any help." Shazza offered. I chuckled, eyeing the cozy looking man with his cigar.

"Probably right. And Zeke's on grave duty?" I watched him start to drag bodies on a makeshift sled.

"Yeah. Maybe he could use the help." Shazza offered.

"I'm afraid, with my nose, I'm more hindrance than help." I admitted. The scent of decay around here was strong.

"Scout you are, then." Shazza gave a wry grin. I sighed.

" _The jig is up, the news is out! They've finally found me. The renegade who had it made, retrieved for a bounty. Nevermore to go astray. This'll be the end today, of the wanted man._ " I continued walking at a leisurely pace toward nowhere with no destination in mind.

"Got a lovely singing voice, sweetheart." The sound of his voice right behind me caused me to pause for a second before continuing my stride.

"Hello, Richard. You having fun scaring everyone?" I teased in an amused voice. Riddick caught up with my strides, walking alongside me. I had heard the few shots earlier, signalling a survivors death only a few minutes ago.

"Not everyone." He said with such a nonchalant air, but we both heard the question behind it.  _Why aren't you scared of me?_

"Yes, well. I've dealt with many a monster in man's skin." My tone stayed light and teasing, but anyone could feel the weight on my shoulders at the admission. "If I can withstand true monsters, a man isn't all that scary."

"You act like I'm not a monster myself." He commented. I felt my face become severe at the very thought of him being a monster.

"You've killed. I know that. But, Richard. Have you ever killed a defenseless child or woman or elderly person?" I tilted my head to look at him and stopped moving. He turned to me, his eyes feeling like they scorched me through his goggles. "Have you ever raped them, and laughed when they plead for death?"

"No." It rang quietly with so much conviction.

"How about kidnapped a couple of teenage girls and tortured them just for the sick gratification of it? Ever done that? The thought ever cross your mind?"

"No." The growl didn't startle me like it should have. I felt my expression soften.

"Then you are no monster. Just a man who knows how to kill to survive the life dealt you. And I can't fear you for that." I sighed and turned to head back.

"Where you going, sweetheart?" His rumbling voice washed over me and I felt a bit of pressure from his chest at my back.

"I should probably go see what the shots were about earlier. I am supposed to be scouting. Though, here soon, I'm going to need to find myself a blade, if John's is anything to go by." I continued to walk without pause.

"He do something to you?" He asked, moving to my side once again.

"Tried to kiss me. Near had me losing my last meal. Man smells like a hospital." I chuckled. "That man is a menace." A rumble of a growl sounded beside me.

"He do anything to ya, you tell me. Got it, sweetheart?" He growled. I eyed him in confusion.

"Sure, I guess. Though I don't see what you can do to him that I won't, if he tries something." That earned me a rumble of laughter.

"Yeah? You gonna gut him?" He sounded amused by the thought.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've had to dirty my hands. Wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the last." I admitted. His steps ceased as he realized I wasn't joking.

"You sure are something, baby girl." The new nickname had me turning around to find he was already out of sight.

"Fast and soundless and deadly." I muttered. I knew how this was supposed to go, and I hadn't wanted to keep him from his second capture. As I made it back to the crash site, I found Shazza looking around for something.

"What were those shots? Somebody find him?" I asked nonchalantly. Shazza eyed me.

"No. It was another survivor. Kind of looked like him. Zeke killed him by mistake." Shazza offered.

"You've got blood on you. You okay?" I looked her up and down.

"I was near the guy when he was shot." She admitted.

"That's unfortunate. But at least physically, you're okay." I looked out toward the spires. The harbingers of death.

"Yeah..." She frowned.

It looked like she was going to say more, but she was interrupted by shots in Zekes' direction. She took off toward her husband, and I took off after her. Shots continued to ring out as we ran. Then, they stopped. I already knew Zeke was gone, but I kept running alongside her. She got to the grave site and yanked the tarp up to find so much blood at the bottom. But no Zeke.

"Zeke!" Her voice was a terrified wail. It was then she saw him. Riddick must have realized what it looked like, because he ran. I followed after Shazza as she gave chase.

In her grieving mind, there was no question who had killed him. I finally realized as I ran, that I was walking with people who would die. There was no reason to believe otherwise. I started to slow as the full realization hit me that I was walking among the dead. What reason did I have to believe that I wouldn't be one of them? Through all the bullshit, only Riddick survived. Was I capable of keeping up? Shouting broke me out of my reverie and I noted that they were making their way back to me, dragging an unconscious convict behind them.

"He did it?" I asked after taking a hit off of my breather. They looked at me as if I grew a second head.

"A guy is dead with a murderer free, and you ask if he did it?" Johns drawled at me.

"Innocent of the crime until proven guilty." I shrugged. I followed after them. "Doesn't look like he did it, though." I finally spoke as the crash site came back into view.

"What?" Shazza stopped right in front of me. "What do you mean it doesn't look like he did it?" She began to shout. "He killed Zeke!"

"I think she just doesn't want us to lock him up again. Probably has a thing for convicts." Johns tried to brush off my observation.

"Where's the weapon?" I asked. "That much blood, he wouldn't have had the chance to clean it before we found him. And there's no blood on him. With the weapons he probably made, there wouldn't be enough distance to avoid splatter. He doesn't even smell-" I was cut off from the slap to my face. It didn't come as a shock that Shazza had lots of power behind that hit.

"Shut the hell up." She hissed at me. Nodding silently, I moved to rest against the outside of the hull. I watched as everyone eyed me warily with differing degrees of caution and mistrust. I could hear voices on the inside, Johns' annoying twang, and Riddicks deep rumble. Then Johns exited the wreckage, giving me a threatening grin. I ignored him.

It was when Fry went in that I followed behind her silently with one last glance flicked at Shazza, who was glaring at me.

"Where's the body?" Fry asked. I found a spot to watch the whole show. Riddick didn't seem interested in answering. "Want to tell me about the sounds?" Still, he didn't answer her. "You told Johns you heard something." She tried to pry. Still he didn't respond. I noticed, though, that he had taken a breath as if to scent the air.  _Probably knows I'm here._

"Look, if you don't wanna tell me, fine." She made to leave. "But just so you know..." She looked back at him. "There's a debate on whether or not we should leave you here to die." She made to retreat to the sunlight, but only got a few steps in.

"You mean the whispers?" His voice was quiet, but just loud enough for Fry to hear. She paused and turned back to the convict.

"What whispers?" Her curiosity got the better of her as she moved back to her original spot. I couldn't help but grin to myself as I let my eyes pass between them a few times.

_Wish I had popcorn. Seriously._

"The ones telling me to go for the sweet spot. Just left of the spine, fourth lumbar down. The abdominal aorta." I continued to watch them each in turn as he continued as if speaking about his favorite food. "Has a kind of metallic taste, human blood. Copperish. Cut it with peppermint schnappes that goes away-"

"Wanna shock me with the truth now?" Fry cut in boldly. Riddicks head rolled and if his ungoggled eyes weren't closed, I would have assumed he was looking at her.

"All you people are so scared of me. Most days I'd take that as a compliment." He leaned back.

"Sam isn't scared of you." Fry corrected.

"Sweetheart isn't scared of anything, I'd wager. And if she is scared of something, it'll probably end up dead. Which is good for all of you. Cuz it ain't me you gotta be scared of now."

"Show me your eyes, Riddick."  _Ballsy for someone sweating fear._ I eyed the convict. Some part of me felt such disquiet at hearing her demand.  _Not my place to get territorial over a man like that. He probably has no interest in me unless it's for a lay._

"Gonna have to come a lot closer for that." His voice rumbled, breaking me from my thoughts with a shiver. Fry took a few hesitant steps forward, but it seemed it wasn't enough for him. "Closer." She took another few steps while wiping her hands on her pants. He stood so suddenly, she jumped back in surprise at seeing him strain from chains. I couldn't help but feel a sort of hunger at the sight of him.

"Where the hell can I get eyes like that?" Jack, the 'boy' stow away was staring at the convict in complete awe. Riddick gave an amused smirk.

"Gotta kill a few people." He informed.

"Kay, I can do it." Jack was enthusiastic in answering.

"Then you gotta get sent to a slam, where they tell you you'll never see daylight again. Ya dig up a doctor and pay him twenty menthol kools to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs."  _That's a load of crap._

"So you can see what's sneaking up on you in the dark?" Jack was enthralled at the thought.

"Exactly." His amused smirk grew.

"Leave!" Everyone's eyes were on Fry.  _Don't like sharing his attention, Fry? No need to be so harsh._  "Leave." Her voice was softer this time. Jack ran back up the steps grumbling the whole way.

"Did I kill a few people? Sure." Riddick sat back down and leaned back a bit. "Did I kill Zeke? No. You got the wrong killer."

"He's not in the hole. We already looked." Fry sounded frustrated.

"Look deeper." It sounded so much like a dare. She frowned and stormed off, pausing when she saw me.

"You gonna come with us?" She asked.

"Shazza still isn't happy with me. I'd best stay here." A rueful grin on my swollen face. I was thankful that my forming bruise was facing away from him. I could see her hesitance. "Don't worry. I won't free your prisoner. It'd do him little good without his goggles I imagine, anyway." She seemed to be alright with that thought as she took off back to the others to get a party together to check the hole.

I stayed in silence, not sure what to say. He waited for Fry to be out of hearing distance before speaking.

"Sure you don't wanna join the party?" He teased. I stayed silent at first, not sure how to progress from there. "How'd you know I didn't do it." I glanced at him from the corner of my eye before checking the stairs again. Finally, I stood to move toward him, my face still facing the stairs. "Look at me." His voice felt like thunder in my soul, and I could only comply. My face turned slowly and I heard an intake of breath before a growl rumbled threateningly in his chest. "Who?"

"Doesn't matter." I shrugged.

"It matters." He raised his voice over mine and I raised an eyebrow at him. He paused for a beat before speaking lowly again. "I ain't asking again. So who was it?"

"A hysterical grieving widow, who doesn't deserve any recompense." I sighed. "Just let it be. Are they gone?"

"Yeah." His answer was all I wanted to hear at that point.

"Good. Now we can focus on you." I moved closer to him and I checked him over to find the bruise where Shazza kicked him in the head. I frowned, not completely aware of his eyes on me. "I'm going to need to breach your personal space again so I can care for your injuries." I looked him in the eyes, forcing myself not to get lost in the beauty in them. "I hope that's alright?"

"Whatever you want, baby girl." His answer rumbled from his chest like thunder as he smirked. I nodded and dropped my bag beside his right foot to my left before allowing myself to straddle him. I dug in my bag for a moment, aware of his eyes on me the entire time. I pulled out my med kit and rifled through it for the bruise cream. "Not the way I intended for you to end up in this position with me, but I can't complain." He commented. I couldn't help the snort of laughter from the thought.

"Didn't think you'd have those sorts of thoughts about me at all." I commented while I dabbed the cream on his bruises.

"Baby girl, you're built like any hot blooded man's dream. You didn't think I'd want you?" He tilted his head as I packed away my med supplies, still in his lap.

"If I wear baggy clothes, men look away. They think I'm overweight. Or I look like I belong in school thanks to my height, being five foot two and all. That's not attractive. With the fact that I'm pretty sure you can't see colors the way everyone else can, you don't know what eye color or hair color I have." I looked him in the eye. "Or do you not care about looks?"

"I can't see color." He admitted. "But your eyes are light, so I'd wager either grey or green. Blue has a different hue of violet with my eyes. I like their shape. Reminds me of one of the great cats of Earth. Your hair, kind of dark looking, but brown seems too dull on you. A deep auburn probably. You're small, sure, but you got curves in all the right places... you're as sexy as they come, baggy clothes be damned. But looks aren't that important. You smell drop dead gorgeous, very fuckable." His words were a purring rumble as he spoke. For a moment I had a hard time speaking as my brain processed the feel of his breath blowing against my lips.

"Grey." I broke the silence. "My eyes are grey right now. They change colors frequently between grey, green, and blue and everything in between." I quickly reached for the last can of tea in my bag.

"Sexy." He purred. I snorted. "And your hair?"

"You got it right. I'm a red head." I sighed as I cracked open the tab. Riddick looked down at the can with a raised eyebrow. "Aside from alcohol, you haven't gotten any liquids in you and that stuff dehydrates you even more. I've got tea. Will you let me help you drink?" He smirked at me.

"You gonna take care of me, precious?" He teased. "I'll drink." I chuckled as he tilted his head back and I carefully poured the tea into his mouth slowly until he lifted his head upright slowly as a signal for me to stop.

"Why do you do that?" I asked after I took a gulp of my half empty can.

"Do what?" He tilted his head as I rummaged around my bag and pulled up some breakfast bars.

"You like to call me by all these different pet names. Why?" I began trying to figure out which one I should open first.

"What's wrong, beautiful? Don't like it?" He smirked as he watched me take a small bite of one before offering the rest to him. I swallowed quickly.

"Mostly, I don't mind. But..." I trailed off.

"But?" He frowned through the cereal bar in his mouth.

"Precious has an extremely creepy connotation for me." I grinned as I elicited a roar of laughter from him. "Here, take a hit if you like. Everyone's been feeling one lung short, so they rigged these oxygen tanks up." I held the mouthpiece up to his lips. He drew it into his lips. "Bite down and take a breath... yeah, like that. Feeling better?"

"Yeah, baby girl. Feels good. It'd feel even better without clothes." He gave a suggestive smirk.

"Not to put a damper on your thoughts, but barring the fact that there is no contraceptive here and the women in my family are extremely fertile... I'd never take advantage of you when you're bound. Maybe later, when there aren't any chains holding you down." I chuckled and slid off his lap and readjusted my purse across my body again.

"You sure know the way to a man's heart, baby girl. But you're right. It'll have to wait for later." He drawled before starting up the beating of his chains. Like in a prison hall, the beats echoed through the small space and I leaned back, watching his muscles work. I finished off my tea and crushed the can against the side of my head and tossing the disc to the side.

It didn't take them long before they showed back up, Johns thundering down the stairs. "Scram, dollface. Gotta speak to our resident con for a bit." I rolled my eyes as I hopped to my feet.

As I slowly made my way up to daylight, I heard Riddick chuckle. "So. You've finally found something worse than me."


	3. Chapter 3

__

We were making the trek to the abandoned settlement with me lagging behind a bit to walk by Riddick. I could hear Shazza and Johns talking about my convict companion.

"Tch." I couldn't help but make my distaste known, if only to my walking partner. He tilted his head at me. "Seriously hating the herd mentality, here." I grumbled.

"Probably cuz you're a predator in a pretty package." He chuckled quietly at me. I snorted at his odd statement. If I didn't think about it too much, It was easy to ignore the flirting quality his voice took with me.

"Here." I held up my oxygen bit to him. "I haven't been using mine much. Mostly full. You need it more than I do." He took my bit, and I transferred it to his shoulder.

"You sure do like to take care of me, sweetheart." He teased.

"Yes, well..." My voice failed me. I stared straight ahead. "Someone should. Even if you don't need it. Especially since you seem to be doing most of the heavy lifting."

"Ain't that what cons are for? Pack mule duty?" He joked and I couldn't keep the scowl from my face.

"Junky mercenary should pull for a while." I spoke under my breath. "But he won't since he's a fucking bossy layabout."

"Hey, now. No need for the sour face. You look like you've been sucking lemons." He couldn't help but rib me. "I see you still don't have a blade yet. Want me to make you a shiv later?"

"If you get the time, that'd be lovely." I grinned.

"Gotta pay you back somehow." He shrugged.

"No you don't. But thank you nonetheless." I stuck close to him as we entered the canyon. "My tazer rod works well for blunt trauma, but I prefer being able to cut if I need to be deadly."

"You got a tazer?" He looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Yes?" I couldn't help the confusion coloring my voice.

"How come I haven't seen it?" He frowned at me.

"I didn't need to use it, so I never bothered pulling it out except to point it out to Johns earlier as a warning." I chuckled. "Of course that didn't deter him from trying to kiss me." Riddick growled.

"Sure I shouldn't just kill him for you?" He rumbled.

"Yes." I couldn't help but laugh. "I can take care of him if he tries anything serious." I saw the others looking back at my bout of laughter. "Okay, I think I need to be quiet now." I grinned at the odd looks I was receiving.

"How come Sam gets to talk to him?" Jack whined loudly enough for Riddick and I to hear.

"Because they can't stop a twenty five year old from doing what she wants." I spoke loudly. Jack ducked down to avoid showing 'his' embarrassment as 'he' grumbled. I murmured to myself, though I was sure Riddick heard me anyway. "Even if they tried."

* * *

 

Everyone had tasks to do. Everyone except me. The kids were roaming, Fry didn't need help with anything in the ship, Johns had already sent Riddick in search of patches, Imam was working on getting the water running and I had no clue as to hot the tech worked anyway, Paris had shooed me from getting anywhere near the water vessels he was gathering, and Shazza still wouldn't talk to me. Out of shame or sheer stubbornness, I didn't know or care. I just laid on the ground staring up at the sky as I waited for someone to need my assistance. I closed my eyes so that I could meditate on the going ons of the day.

I'd had a shit day, with my boss being his abusive, perverted self. I went to visit my friends graves, and it started raining on me. I got home and before I even had time to rest, I was sent here by someone with extremely pale blue eyes. They looked very familiar. I helped Riddick, though he didn't need it. He was nice to me. The convict was the nicest one to me. What does that tell you? Humans are basically garbage. Johns was nasty. No doubt on that. Sleazy. I'd need to watch out for him the most.

I was broken out of my thoughts by a shadow blocking the sunlight from my face. I opened my eyes to see the silhouette of none other than Johns standing over me. "Hey, dollface. Mind giving me a hand?" I quietly looked around to see nobody else in sight.

"Alright." I sat up and pulled myself to my feet. "Where do you need me?" I eyed him. Something was off.

"Right here is fine." He pulled me to him in a kiss and placed his hand on my ass to grind into my stomach with what little package he had. I jerked away and slammed my tazing rod into his junk and turned it on high. He couldn't even scream, he was in so much pain.

"Hands off." I snarled. I slammed my rod into his gonads once more before stalking off, listening to him drop to the ground and heave any food or bile in his system. I tried to calm down, but I felt the anger bubble up even more. Before I could think, I slammed my fist into the side of the nearest building, leaving a large, twisted dent in the metal. I growled when I pulled my hand out, frowning at the sight of my blood. My hand was cut up pretty bad, thanks to my impulsiveness. I sighed at my own stupidity.

I continued walking the grounds, looking for someone to stay near. I found Riddick grinding down on a piece of curved metal with a stone and grease, sitting on a stray barrel. "You're bleeding." He frowned at me as he wiped the grease of the blade again for another pass over the stone.

"Got a bit impulsive." I admitted. "Wall looks worse." I sat next to his feet, completely forgetting I still had my rod out in my other hand.

"You pulled out your tazer. What happened?" His rumbling voice rolled like thunder over me, threatening a shit storm.

"Let's just say I may have fried any chance of the continuing of the Johns' bloodline." I shrugged as I collapsed it back into itself and stowed it back away. "Left him in a puddle of his own vomit, so it's all good." He couldn't hold back the guffaw at my nonchalance about brutalizing Johns' family jewels.

"You really are something, sweetheart." He gave a lazy grin.

"So you keep saying." I sighed, leaning against the large barrel he was perched on. I closed my eyes, humming the melody of 'Little Piece of Heaven' by Avenged Sevenfold as quietly as I could. I lost track of time, sitting by his barrel, that I didn't even realize he had stopped sharpening the blade. I had started dozing when I felt the tap on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and blinked in confusion. I looked up at him still half incoherent from my nap. "Wha?" My throat was dry as I croaked my confusion.

"Here." My eyes focused on the handle of a blade being held toward me. I carefully took it from his grasp and inspected it through blurry eyes. The handle fit my hand very comfortably, and the blade was as long as my forearm, much thinner than is shiv, but still slightly curved. It was gorgeous work for a crude instrument. I grinned and carefully stowed it away in my bag before hopping to my feet and giving him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek of thanks, completely unaware of the sudden stiffening of his figure.

"Thanks, Richard. It's great! I'm gonna go see if we have water yet." I had moved quickly to go find Imam. Once he was out of sight, I realized my mistake. "Fucking hell." I grumbled to myself as my face turned red.

* * *

 

Riddick

_That girl- that WOMAN is something else. Every time they treat me like the animal I am, she has something to say about it. She takes care of me to the best of her ability, which is endearing, in it's own way. She doesn't act like I'm helpless. More like she sees the things I neglect because I can go without and decides that she won't let me. She asks before doing anything that requires touching me, like I'm gonna say no. Wasn't lying when I said she's sexy. She oozes confidence in herself. Even when she degrades her own looks, she says it with a surety. She may not think she's much by looks but she doesn't seem to care..._

I continued to sharpen the blade I'd been working on for her, while eyeing the little minx humming some strange tune at my feet. Part of me wondered why I enjoyed her company so much. I was a solitary person, mostly because anyone around me died. I checked the blade over and deemed it sharp enough. I decided to just listen to her humming voice for a bit. She really does have a nice voice. _Wonder what it'd sound like moaning my name... **Want.**_  The beast inside me was practically salivating with just her scent so intoxicatingly close. It was surprising, seeing as it had never happened before.

Her voice started to quiet, almost slur, if you could actually slur a hum. Her breathing and heartbeat began to slow minutely.  _Un-fucking-believable. She trusts me enough to fall asleep at my feet, knowing I'm making a weapon. She never ceases to amaze me._  I decided to wake her before I was tempted to do something stupid. Like hold her. I gave a light tap to her shoulder. She didn't jump like a frightened animal. She merely blinked in sleepy confusion before turning her bemused face toward me. "Wha?" Her voice, while hoarse with sleep and thirst, wasn't unpleasant. Kinda like the crooning of one of those singers of old. The ones that sang 'the blue' or something like that. Maybe 'jazz'.

"Here." I tried not to grin outright as her slightly unfocused eyes inspected the shiv I had made for her with intense focus. A grin blossomed across those kissable lips, signalling her pleasure with my work. She tucked it into her side satchel of a purse before leaping to her feet with grace I couldn't help but admire. Maybe that's why I didn't realize what happened until it had already happened. Her arms were around me in a quick embrace and I felt myself stiffen under her hold. Her lips gave a gentle peck to my cheek before she let me loose and she was talking before her arms had fully dropped.

"Thanks Richard. It's great!" She turned away, calling over her shoulder. "I'm gonna see if we have water yet." And she moved out of sight, but not out of hearing or smelling range. Her steps faltered, and I smelled embarrassment on her. "Fucking hell." Her voice was an embarrassed grumble. I wanted to chuckle as her steps faded in the direction of the holy man. I decided to get up and do a real sweep of the area, just to be sure there were no unpleasant surprises for me or the little woman walking away from me. And to avoid going after her and taking her against the closest flat surface out of direct sight of the others.  _ **Soon.**_  I had to agree with the beast. Some time soon, I'd have her willingly writhing under me.


	4. Chapter 4

Water! Holy blessing of water! I grinned for a moment before I realized I needed to do something. There was a kid about to die. I wasn't about to let that happen if I could help it. "Glad to see the water is working finally. I'm gonna have to miss the party, though." I stepped out just as Jack and Riddick stepped in, brushing past without so much as a 'how do you do?'. I jogged to the coring room and could already hear the humming of the skylight opening. I found the hole the little one went in through and wriggled through without too much trouble. I looked up just as the screeching began. I hadn't even gotten off of all fours before I was diving for the boy and holding him down in the light. It didn't stop his screaming. The damn things were circling around the lighted square, waiting for us to move.

"Stay still. Do you understand?" I spoke with unquestionable authority in my voice. He only answered in Arabic babble. I wasn't taking any chances, so I stayed on top of him. The loud echoing of gunshots ricocheting around the metal building as they kicked open the door to find me holding the boy down and the little evil fuckers swarming as close to the light as they dared. "Couldn't have come at a better time!" I called over the hungry chirping shrieks. The boy tried to squirm away to run to the others. "No! Hold still!" Imam must have translated for me, because the boy stilled. I pulled my handheld LED flashlight out and began shining it out at the flock of flying death. The things shrieked in pain. They made a beeline for the well at the center of the room. As soon as every last creature was down the well, I hesitantly stood, pulling the boy up with me and holding him to my side. I walked in a slight crouch, shining my flashlight everywhere above me to be sure I hadn't missed any of the things. I pushed the boy quickly into the light from the door as I moved to join him.

"Thank you! You saved him! You saved Ali! But how did you know where to look?" Imam spoke.

"Thought I heard something, found the hole, and decided to see what it was." I hedged. I didn't want to lie with Riddick near. He could smell it.

"Ain't you just a good luck charm, dollface?" Johns joked.

"You can call me miss Warren, Johns. Not dollface." I replied stonily.

"You want all of us to call you that?" Fry asked warily.

"No. Just him. I don't take to being forcably kissed very well. He'd do well to remember it." I walked back to the tent they had been in, acting as if I hadn't just thrown Johns under the bus. "There still water? I'm still pretty thirsty." I called back. There were mutters of the affirmative, and I jogged to get myself a drink.

I was drinking a warm glass of water when I felt his presence. "Why'd you leave the tent?" His voice rolled over me like thunder and sin.

"Does it matter?" I frowned as I set aside my water glass.

"Was it me or Johns you were trying to avoid?" He pressed.

"Okay. Stop right there." I held up a finger. "I don't need to avoid anybody. If I have a problem with Johns, I'll just fry his junk again." I crossed my arms and threw out a hip. The epitome of sass.

"And me?" He stalked closer to me, slowly, like he was trying to ferret out any discomfort and bring it out to the light.

"I don't need or want to avoid you. Unless you'd prefer I do so?" I raised an eyebrow. He was right in front of me. My nose was just inches from his chest. I tilted my head back to look into his face.

"..." I didn't know what came over him, but before I could really do anything, one of his hands was tangled in my hair and his lips were coaxing a tender kiss from mine. Every nerve ending in my body was aware of him. My hands sought to steady me against his chest, but I couldn't bring myself to push him away. As we parted, I could see his brows furrowed in what could only be confusion. I wasn't sure if I could breathe correctly with him right there. He smelled of masculinity and oncoming rain on the wind and faintly of a strong coffee brew and the iron of blood under the dust and sweat. It was heady. "That answer your question?" His voice felt like the roar of a bonfire back home. The warmth and familiarity of it almost had me melting into his arms. Almost. I carefully extricated myself from his hold.

"I think that answers a lot of questions, actually." I smiled. "We should go find the others." I didn't turn as I heard the huff of frustration behind me.

* * *

 

Riddick

I watched her throat contract as she swallowed the lukewarm water. _Fucking beautiful._  "Why'd you leave the tent?"

"Does it matter?" She asked, frowning at me and setting down her glass.  _Hell yes, it matters._

"Was it me or Johns you were trying to avoid?" I ignored her reluctance to answer. That got a reaction from her.

"Okay. Stop right there." She turned to me, holding a finger up at me. "I don't need to avoid anybody. If I have a problem with Johns, I'll just fry his junk again." She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to effectively throw out a hip in a sassy pose.  _That attitude is gonna drive me crazy. In so many ways. **Challenges us. Must learn to submit to us.**  Yeah, okay. Don't know what that means. Want me to get her on her back or something? Have her play uncle with me?_

"And me?" I began my approach. Her scent was beckoning me closer. To bury my nose in the crook of her neck again. Maybe deepen the bruise that was still shown prominently on her shoulder. I stopped just inches from her though she kept staring at her own eye level.

"I don't need or want to avoid you. Unless you'd prefer I do so?" She raised an eyebrow before finally looking up at my face.

"..." Just like that, my control snapped. I buried a hand in her thick locks to cradle her head as I stole a kiss from her. Her hands found their way to my chest, and for a heart stopping moment, I thought she'd push me away. But she didn't. She just steadied herself against me and let me drag this out a bit longer. When our lips finally broke apart, I breathed in her scent of dark chocolate, warm cream and some unidentified tangy something. She smelled homey. I could bury my nose into her neck for the rest of my life. Could live off that scent. "That answer your question?" I barely breathed it out. I wanted her so. Fucking. Bad. She pulled away slowly. Like she didn't really want to. Part of me wanted to hold her even tighter.

"I think that answers a lot of questions, actually."  _Like what? How bad we want each other? How close I am to taking you on this fucking table?_  It didn't matter that I hadn't been rough just now. I still wanted her. And yet again, she was walking away from me. _**Soon, she will be ours. Permanently.**  What the hell are you saying?_ "We should go find the others."

My beast didn't answer me and I couldn't suppress the huff of frustration at my beast. At her. At myself.  _Fucking hell._

* * *

 

Sam

We found them in the room with the planet model. I moved further into the room while Riddick leaned against the door frame. Fry was slowly moving it as it ticked each year by. When the model reached year twenty two, the planet we were on went dark. "An eclipse." Fry breathed. The entire room was thick with apprehension.

"Not scared of the dark, are ya?" Riddick mocked, probably passively taking out his frustrations on everyone else.

"Hello, darkness, my old friend..." I began to hum to myself absently. Some of the others looked at me in confusion. It didn't take but a beat before everyone was moving, trying to get everything ready for us to get the hell out of dodge. I decided to keep an eye on the kids, since the others were busy, and I didn't want a repeat of earlier.

It probably wasn't long after they all swore they would stay near the adults and not wander off, that I decided to go check on Riddick. As I made my way over to the ship, I watched as the ramp slowly descended to the dust, and Riddick jumped down. He met my eyes with his goggled stare.

"Been looking for me?" He gave a lighthearted grin. I noted his scalp looked freshly shaven.

"Been grooming yourself, I see." I ignored his question outright.

"Yeah. You like it?" He tilted his head a bit, his grin widening at my avoidance, pretty much affirming his first question.

"You really need to ask?" I gave a half-hearted smile.

"No. But I'd like to hear your answer." He teased.

"Yes, Richard. As if you weren't sexy enough before." I rolled my eyes exaggeratedly as I spoke with a huffing laughter.

"You think I'm sexy." It wasn't a question, but an observation. "Interesting." He moved so that we were almost touching.

"Not really." I snorted. "Fry thinks so, too."

"But she's also scared of me." He countered, challenging me.

"Well, yeah. Everyone here is." I agreed.

"Except you." He reminded me.

"Except me." I affirmed. We stared each other down for a bit, our grins slipping off of our faces, before he handed me the oxygen tank.

"I think you should take a few hits." His voice sounded raw with... something. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He walked away, leaving me so confused.

He wasn't far from me when Shazza held out her oxygen tank. "Here."

"What it's broken?" He had taken it, only to toss it to the ground.

"There's still a few hits left... Actually, you asshole, I'm trying to say I'm sorry." She growled at him.

"You apologizing to me before the woman who was trying to tell you all I didn't do it? The one you slapped so hard, she's sportin' a bruise on her cheek?" He scoffed. "Keep your sorry ass apology." He continued walking away. Shazza looked up and met my eyes. Her eyes darkened with shame. She looked away from me. I ignored her as I walked right by.

"I'm sorry." She finally called behind me. I didn't pause in my gait.

"Isn't that interesting. Took a convict pointing it out before you apologize. I already forgave you. But I did it for myself, not for you." My voice stayed steady as I walked away from her. As I moved to help get things prepped, something my friend said years ago came back to me.

_Never trust someone who can't apologize on their own. They have no moral compass to guide them._

I kind of zoned out for a while at the edge of the little campsite, only coming to when I heard everyone panicking. I looked up to the sky in dread to find the rings ascending toward the suns. I turned, making a beeline for the sandcat that was already rolling out. I watched Riddick help Johns up, before running toward the damned machine as fast as I could since it was speeding up. As I reached the thrice damned vehicle, I went to jump, and felt hands circle my waist and hoisting me up into a muscular chest.

"Alright?" Riddick muttered.

"I'd be better if people didn't try to leave me behind." I huffed. The others looked back at me in shock before turning back around. I sat in the bed, staring off into space, i.e. Riddicks chest, when suddenly, something jerked me toward him, and I became shaded. I steadied myself with my hands on his thighs and looked up when he rose back up to a sitting position. We made eye contact before a smirk broke over his face and he raised a brow. I blinked in confusion before getting a better look at my position. I was positioned between his legs, at eye level with his crotch. My face heated up and I turned around and leaned back against him wordlessly.

Across from me, Jack had 'his' head tilted at our little situation. I shook my head to quiet any questions the little runaway might have.  _Riddick can be such an ass._

The ride didn't last long, but the rings of the other planet were edging closer to eclipsing the suns each passing moment. I moved to get off, when Riddick shook his head at me.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Stay here, we'll be back shortly." He rumbled quietly at me. I sat back down with a sigh.

"If you say so." I muttered. They all disappeared, except for the woman who tried to leave me in the dust, and the stowaway kid.

Soon, Riddick was coming back with two power cells bumping against his shoulders. He plopped them down and moved for Johns to set his one power cell down. Then Imam set his down into the sandcats' bed.

It was too late. Jack tried to clear the solar panel of dust, but the sandcat died anyway. I jumped down, and right as I began to move toward the cargo container, an unearthly sound of piercing shrieks and the merciless beating of tiny wings hit my ears. I turned to look. My night vision, while not anywhere near on par with Riddicks, was still much better than the average humans night vision. A swirling cyclone of death and claws and teeth sprung from the spires, And made their way toward us. I froze.

"...FLEE!" I heard the last word from Paris' mouth, but couldn't seem to get my legs to obey for a moment. By the time I was running, I was between Shazza and Riddick. My legs pumped as hard as I could make them. I heard the beating of wings draw closer. I jumped down into the crash trail and laid on my back, just as the others jumped. The hoard passed over us. I watched Shazza get up, just as the flock circled back for their meal. Shazza never had a chance. I waited until I heard the thuds of men's boots on dirt before pulling myself to my feet. I ignored the blood splatters in the dust as I made my way to the cargo container, following behind Riddick.

We turned as we made it to the giant hunk of cargo bay. We both heard the ominous rumble of dirt and stone falling in droves. I knew what Riddick was seeing, but what I saw less detailed. Black shapes moving against charcoal backdrop. I moved closer to the convict.

"What is it now?" Fry muttered in our direction.

"Like I said earlier. It ain't me you gotta worry about now." Rick intoned before ushering me inside and shutting the door behind us. I only could think to myself in determination as everyone tried to figure out what to do.

_Death is hunting us. But he won't catch me. He won't._


	5. Chapter 5

_Flashlights sure do come in handy._ We were looking around somewhere for the cutting torch, but I was too involved with listening to the shrieks and be of much use. The sounds were getting closer.

"Everybody listen." Imam whispered and pressed his ear to the wall. One of his kids and Jack followed his lead.

"Why do they do that? Make that sound?" Jack asked, fear leaking into 'his' voice.

"Perhaps that's how they see." Imam guessed. "With sound waves-"

The sound of rending metal could be heard, followed by a skittering of sorts. Everyone was listening for it.

"Could be a breach in the hull." Fry murmured. Everyones eyes were glued to the direction the sounds came from.

"Well, Johns? You've got the big gauge." Riddick was messing with the merc.

"I'd rather piss glass." Johns retorted. _Coward. Riddick gets it right later, you don't have a spine._ "Why don't you go fucking check?"

"I'll go see what we're dealing with." I muttered with a roll of my eyes. I moved slowly, not quite sure I was doing the right thing. I heard clicking to my right and turned my head slowly. It jumped at me, and I pulled my tazer rod out and flicked it to full length before bashing it in the head on full power. It dropped and siezed and bubbled a bit. I retreated back to the light and looked back at them. "Does that answer our questions?" I sarcastically asked. None of 'the herd' would look at me. They were all too frightened. Riddick was looking at me with a mix of respect and some other emotion.

"I'm not staying here another moment." Paris panicked and tried to run. Fry caught him and held him against the wall.

"You don't know what's out there!" She tried to reason.

"But I know what's in here!" He cried.

"There's even more out there than what's in here." I spoke loudly. "From hatchlings to full fledged adults." The others stiffened at my words.

Imam worked to get a door open with a crowbar. Once it fell free, we all piled in. Imam carefully closed up the hole and leaned against it.

"I wouldn't-" a spike drove itself through the barrier, inches from Imam's head. He jumped away from the flimsy barrier. Johns was firing at it, weakening it further. While everyone else was panicking, I saw the torch and handed it off to Riddick. He lit it on Paris' lighter and began cutting a hole big enough for him, and subsequently the others, to crawl through. Once the hole was made, Paris pushed his way to being the first through. Riddick and I met eyes over his clambering form and I rolled my eyes while he smirked. He ushered me through next, placing a hand at my lower back as if contact would calm him down.

Everyone was piled through, and some of the others worked to close off the hole. Riddick moved to the rim of the halo of light to scan the area with his goggles up.

"Look clear?" I asked, half hopeful.

"Yeah... for now." His voice was a growl in the dark. He moved to check deeper in the darker reaches of the cabin. "Wait here." He ordered softly.

"Gotcha." I murmured. The others behind me had plugged the hole, and were working on torching out another one. I noticed one of the older Arab boys moving to explore. I grabbed his shoulder and he gasped as he turned to me. My gaze flickered to him before they went back to the dark shape of Riddick scouting. I shook my head and gestured for him to go back to the group. "Don't stray, little sheep, for who will be your shepherd?" My own voice was the whisper of a ghost as he hurried to rejoin 'the herd'. They managed to get the hole open before somebody made a big noise, startling one of the creatures into seeing Riddick. It was going to attack, so he ran. I watched his shadow barrel our way before one of the idiots shined their light right in his eyes.

"FUCK!" He shouted as he jerked to the side, plowing into me, sending us toppling out of the way of the creature that arced up from the light with a shriek. Johns began shooting at wherever he thought the creature was. I became distracted from the mayhem by the solid weight over me. He was looking around before looking down at me. His face lit with a grin and I chuckled. "Every time I have you where I want you, it's never in the right situation." He playfully grumbled before burying his face in my neck for a moment, taking in a deep breath, then getting up. He pulled me to my feet while I was disoriented.

"...Light actually hurts it." Fry sounded mystified. It jerked, causing all of them to jump.

"Time to go through the hole." I directed. They all moved to obey. Riddick was the last to come through, following right behind me.

The light from the torch illuminated a good deal of space, and everyone had pulled up things to sit on.

"So, we've got a cutting torch, three hand lights... There's gotta be something at the crash site we can use." Fry was muttering aloud her mental checklist.

"Spirits. Anything over forty five proof burns rather well." Paris interjected.

"How many you got left?" Fry asked.

"I'm not sure. Ten, I think?" Paris guessed.

"Johns, you've got a couple flares. Maybe we have enough light." Fry continued to talk to herself.

"Enough for fucking what, exactly?" Johns growled.

"We stick to the plan. We get four power cells back to the skiff and we're off this rock." Fry glared at the merc.

"I hate to ruin a beautiful theory with an ugly fact, but that cat is solar. It won't run at night." Paris informed.

"So we carry the cells. We drag them, whatever it takes." Fry tried to insist.

"You mean tonight? With all those things still out there?" Jack was in fetal position, as if to appear smaller.

"Alright, now how long can this last? A couple hours? A day tops?" Johns cut in.

"I have the impression from the model, the two planets were moving as one. It will be a lasting darkness." Imam intoned grimly.

"Hmmm. These suns gotta come up sometime. And if these creatures are phobic about light, we just sit tight and wait it out and let the sun come up." Johns tried to reason.

"I'm sure somebody already thought of that. Locked inside that coring room." Fry retorted.

"She's right. If we have enough light, we might live long enough to die of dehydration or starvation." I quipped boredly. Riddick turned his head toward me and raised a brow.

"We need to think about everybody right now, especially the kids. How scared do you think they're gonna be out there in the dark?' The kids looked up at Johns' insinuation.

"Don't use them like that." Fry hissed.

"Like what?" Johns remained obstinately obtuse.

"As a smokescreen. You deal with your own fear." Fry rebuked.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up for two seconds and let me come up with a plan that doesn't involve mass suicide." Johns was shaking.

"Hey." The kids looked at me. "Better afraid and surviving than false security and dying, right?" They nodded. A screech echoed around us.

"I'm waiting." Fry taunted the frightened merc. "How much do you weigh, Johns?"

"Why does it matter, Carolyn?" Johns retorted. Fry wasn't having it.

"How much?"

"Around seventy nine kilos, to be exact-" He answered.

"Cuz you're seventy nine kilos of gutless white meat and that's why you can't think of a better plan." She continued to taunt.

"Is that fucking right?" Johns jumped to his feet, pulling out his gun. I stood to protect the kids, getting in the way. Riddick moved just as I did to block Johns from me. "Where're you goin?" Johns' gun made it's way to his chin. I pulled out my tazer, ready to fight if need be. Riddick pulled up his goggles, revealing his eyes as he smirked and tapped his shiv against Johns' thigh.

"This solves nothing." Imam whispered to an audience not even listening to him.

"Yes, that's right." I spoke up. "Johns, just because I have a vagina, doesn't stop me from believing I have bigger kahones than you." I smirked, arms crossed over my chest, tazer sticking out in open threat.

"Okay." Johns' eyes darted between Riddick and I in quick succession. He sat back down.

"Are you sure you can get us there? Even in the dark?" Imam asked.

"No." Fry admitted. "But he can." She gestured to Riddick. The con looked at all of them with a look that said 'Selfish docking pilot say what now?' It was a look of mild discomfort with being handed the reigns in everyone's lives.

"This should be fun." I muttered, eyeing everyone warily. The Alpha Furyan was a leader, sure. But this motley group, made up over half by children? Not all of us would survive. I would be lucky to be one of the few who did.

We were making our way into the wreckage, before they ushered Riddick up to see if he could see anything. He couldn't.

"Looks clear." He uttered. Johns moved to continue forward, but jumped back as one of the beasts shot out from the dark with a shriek.

"Thought you said it was clear!" Johns accused.

"I said it looks clear." Riddick reiterated. Johns looked up over the mouth of the little incline they were laying against.

"Well, what's it look like now?" The merc asked. The con glanced over as well.

"Looks clear." He gave a small smirk. _Smart ass._ I rolled my eyes and suppressed a grin.

* * *

We moved quickly to gather the blue lit coils and a generator to power them. They found the sled that Zeke had been using for body transport and loaded the power cells onto it, and plopping the generator onto that. Paris sat his bag of spirits and flares onto the sled as they began setting everything up. Riddick took the lead.

"I'll scout ahead. I want the light behind me, but not in my eyes." He directed. Fry set up a little light beacon for him to wear. The lights were at his back, both to ward off the monsters, and to clue us in as to where he was.

Paris and I had the back. Paris, because he posed less threat to the group with his flight instinct, and me because I could keep the things at bay for a while. So we plodded on, Imam and Johns pulling the sled, The eldest of the Arab boys and Fry guarding the three younger kids, and Paris and I coming up in rear. While Paris held the torch, I had out my tazer in one hand and my flashlight in the other. I still hadn't told them about my high powered lantern, but I figured it was best to keep it in reserves.

I could tell we were moving in a circle, and almost groaned at the slow going. Then, the torch went out. At the same time, the sled hit a bump and one of the flares fell and rolled to the edge of our little halo of light. "Wait." Jack called. 'He' pulled off the lights and ran to the flare.

"Jack!" Fry called in alarm. Something took a swipe at 'him', but only just missed because Imam tackled Jack to the ground. One of them took a swipe at Paris and he panicked. I took off mine and his lights before he could take the lights out as he crawled away. I went to pull him back to the light, but I felt a sharp grip on my light wielding arm and felt my feet leave the ground. I gave a yell of alarm as my hand dropped my LED and I was taken further from the light.

* * *

Riddick

I heard her yell before I turned to find her being lifted off the ground. One of the things had her in its grasp. By the time Johns had his gun pointed in their direction, nobody could see her. I closed my eyes as pain lanced through my chest. She was gone. **_No!_** My beast roared in denial, further breaking what little left of a heart I had left. _She's gone. She's gone and I couldn't do shit to stop it! I should have had her closer to me. I should have been faster._ I couldn't stop from berating myself.

The skittish man was dead, too. Too little, too late. Didn't matter anymore. _She died saving our skins from Paris' stupidity. Died keeping the light on._ I swore to myself that I wouldn't let that go in vain.

I moved to her little handheld light and picked it up. I stashed it away in my pocket. The only thing I had of hers, and I wouldn't give it up. I'd remember her.


	6. Chapter 6

Third Person

They had been going at a steady pace, Riddick leading the others, until Johns and Imam stopped. "Look at this shit." Johns growled, pointing at the tracks when someone asked why they stopped.

"We've been going in circles." Imam started to let his temper get the best of him.

"Listen." Riddick tried to reason.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Imam demanded, ignoring the convict.

"Listen!" The goggled man barked. Everyone fell silent, only to hear the chaos of clicking and screeches. "Canyon up ahead. I circled around to buy us some time to think."

"I think we should go on." Imam frowned.

"I don't recommend it. That up ahead is death row. Especially with the girl bleeding." Riddick informed the skittish herd.

"What are you talking about? She's not cut." Johns frowned, staring at Fry.

"Not her. Her." Riddick stared at Jack with a knowing glimmer in his eye. Everyone gaped at him as they realized what he meant. Jack fell into a crouch.

"Jesus, Jack!" Fry shouted. Jack seemed ready to start crying.

"I thought it'd be easier if everyone thought I was a guy. I thought people wouldn't mess with me as much." She whimpered. Fry crouched down by the girl.

"I'm sorry, hun. Is it true? Are you bleeding?" She tried to get the answer from the whimpering teen.

"You could have left me at the ship. That's why I didn't say anything." Jack affirmed.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Johns wiped a hand down his face in aggravation.

"This isn't gonna work." Fry popped up.

"Excuse me?" Johns snarled. "This was your idea in the first place!"

"I was wrong, okay? It's too risky, we need to go back to the ship." She admitted.

"I don't know, Carolyn. Nice wide open space, breeze, I'm starting to enjoy my fucking self out here." Johns spread out his arms.

"Are you high again? Do you hear yourself right now?" Her hackles rose at his aggressive behavior.

"She's the captain. We should listen to her." Imam interjected.

"Listen to her? When she was so willing to sacrifice us all?" Johns revealed.

"This doesn't help us right now-" Carolyn was cut off by jack.

"What's he talking about?"

"She was gonna wipe out the passenger cabin-"

"Shut up!" Carolyn shouted at Johns as he continued.

"She was gonna kill us in our sleep. We're nothing but walking ghosts to her." Johns taunted.

"Shut your fucking blowhole!" She charged the merc, only to get knocked to the ground in defeat.

"Alright. You've made your point. We're all scared." Imam cut in, trying to avoid more violence.

Riddick watched the whole thing with a growing fury. Johns was gonna get them all killed.

"How much do you weigh now, Carolyn?" Johns rubbed in the taunt before addressing the others. "Verdict's in. We press on. Light moves forward."

As they moved to press on, one of the damned creatures Let out a shriek way too close for their comfort as it crashed down to the ground. "Whoa!" A familiar voice called out. "That was some kinda fuckin' rodeo." Everyone paused in disbelief. A small woman came into the light, holding her injured arm. "Everybody okay?"

"You're alive?" Jack rushed to hug her, followed by the younger Arab boys.

"Yeah, turns out I'm a lot harder to kill than these things think." She shrugged. Riddick pressed closer to her after the kids let go with relieved grins, almost disbelieving she was alive.

"How are you alive?" Fry stared in awe.

"Easy. Those things are like the evil demon spawn mix of a bat, vampire, dinosaur and all my childhood nightmares combined, but they ride kinda like a horse... If a horse could fly." She shrugged nonchalantly as Riddick pulled her close, chuckling into her hair as he breathed in her scent.

"You rode one of those fuckers?" Johns shouted in shock.

"Yeah?" She cocked her head.

"How the hell'd you manage that?" Fry breathed.

"Well see..." Sam started. "This is what happened..."

* * *

Sam

~Flashback~

The light was growing further away from my feet as the beast kept circling upwards. I began using momentum to swing myself until my arm carrying my tazer hooked around the protruding structure from the side of the thing's head. The tazer was at a lower setting and I didn't notice that I had flicked it on. It touched the beast's head and it let go of my other arm and tried to shake me off. I used that momentum to throw myself over, onto its back. The thing didn't like that, because its whip like tail tried to pull me off by the neck. I hooked my legs under its wings and reached for my shiv and swung it behind my head. The tail cut like butter, and the monster shrieked in pain. I stashed the shiv away so that I could hold onto the bone like antennas on its head.

It kept trying to throw me by looping and spinning, but my grip didn't falter. When my tazer went off again against the thing's side some thirty odd minutes into my demented loop-de-loop ride, it jerked away from the sensation, steering itself away. By then, the light was barely a spot in the distance. I thought about it, and began to experiment with the tazer, seeing if my hunch was right. Sure enough, I learned I could steer left and right with my tazer on a low setting. I carefully ripped some of the material from my shirt, to bind my wound, and another strip to attach to the bone antennae to use as a reign. I kicked into the beasts sides from my perch, reminded of the times I had gone horse riding. The best sped up as I steered it toward the group.

It took a while to catch up, but I waited above, circling around them, thinking of a way to land the thing without plummeting to my death. I kept an eye on the group from above, until they stopped. _What the Hell are they doing?_ After a bit, it looked like they were fighting. I didn't want it to go on, so I did possibly the stupidest thing I could have done. I slammed my tazer into the top of its spine, just at the base of the skull to make it go down. The wings seized, and we began to drop. I only had time to brace for impact.

~End Flashback~

"...so, yeah." I finished my long winded explanation. Everyone, save Riddick, was giving me the most deadpan expressions. "Thanks for the shiv, by the way. It was a big help." I looked up and behind myself to the attached convict.

"You sure are full of surprises, sweeheart." Riddick gave a rumbling chuckle against my back. He'd yet to let me go since I crash landed that thing.

"Crazy bitch." Johns mumbled under his breath.

"You rode... one of those things." Fry reiterated dumbly.

"Yes." I confirmed.

"You. RODE one." She couldn't seem to get her head around that.

"Yes." I nodded slowly. "Now that that's out of the way, what caused the fight in the first place?" I turned my attention to Riddick.

"The girl's bleeding. Don't know if I wanna take her through the canyon like that." Riddick surmised.

"Yeah, I smelled that earlier. Didn't occur that it'd be a problem for some reason." I rubbed my neck in embarrassment. I turned my head to the girl, and carefully approached her. "I can fix that, but it's gonna hurt, it's gonna be messy, and it's gonna require the men to turn away." I looked Jack in the eyes. "Do you trust me, Jack?"

"Y-yeah. I think so." She nodded hesitantly.

"Okay. Men. Turn your backs to us and guard us." I waited for all males to comply. "Jack I'm gonna need you to lay down on your back." She complied. "I've got a spare pair of jogging pants with a tie, so we can leave these pants here." I began to kneed where her adolescent womb was. She started screaming in pain. "I know. It hurts." I tried to sooth.

"What are you doing to her?" Fry cried out. The men dutifully kept their backs turned, despite the fact that they definitely wanted to turn.

"When a late friend of mine was having her kid, who turned out was stillborn, the nurses showed me how to do this. She wouldn't let anyone but me touch her. It breaks up the lining still there and makes it pass faster. It just hurts like hell." I explained through the girl's screams. When I was sure it was done, I stopped and her screams died down to whimpers. "In theory, it should make it all pass at once. When she stands up, it's gonna go everywhere. Jack, I want you to sit up slowly, okay?" I coaxed the teen up carefully. The scent of blood got much stronger.

"What now?" She whimpered at me.

"Men, keep your backs turned, she's getting changed." I warned, pulling out my black jogging pants. I handed them to her and helped her out of her bloody pants and underwear. I held up some wipes from my bag for her to clean herself with. She quickly pulled my pants on with a creeping blush. "There. All better, yeah?" I gave a smile. She nodded with a blank face, staring at her ruined pants. "All done boys, you can turn now. We should probably get away from the bloody clothes before e become the next meal." I dusted myself off as I stood. I got nods from the others and we began to move again. I was about to take up the rear, when Riddick grabbed my wrist. I looked up at him in confusion.

"Stay close to me. Something tells me you won't get lucky like that again." He muttered. I nodded warily. _What's up with him? He's been very touchy feely since I got back._

"Fry, you mind if I take the side?" I asked. She nodded.

"Go ahead. We've got the lights still, so I can take rear." She sacrificed her light coils to me before taking the coils for the back and crossing them around herself.

Soon, Fry took over Johns' reigns, and the merc went forward to talk with Riddick. I watched them start their little scheme, or rather Johns' scheme.

Fry wanted to hang back. "We keep moving. If they stop for any reason, we keep moving." I ordered. I turned my hard eyes to Fry when she tried to argue.

"But-"

"No, Fry. We won't survive at the crash site. And we only have so long for these things to keep working." I gestured toward the lights. "The less time we take, the higher the odds of us all surviving." I looked back toward Riddick, just as he looked my way. Our eyes connected briefly and I gestured with a nod to let him know my plans of moving forward when shit hit the fan. I saw approval in his eyes before Johns directed his gaze away from us. They stopped. I began moving the others in an arc around the merc and con. No way in hell was I going to let us die because Johns didn't have a spine.

And just like that, the fight began. Fry tried to run back, and the middle Arab boy followed, but they didn't make it far. "Shit!" I hissed as I watched two of our group become a feast for the beasts.

Imam cried out as he saw his child get taken down. The two remaining drew closer to me, as well as Jack. I kept pushing them forward until we found a shelter of bones. I made sure we were well lit before consoling the children. It was at that moment that the generator cut out. the lights began to die, and we all sought to light the bottles. We had lit the last one when Riddick came into view.

"Two short. What happened?" He leaned against the bone structure.

"Fry tried to make a run for it. the middle one tried to follow her. They probably made it a few feet from the light." I muttered as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I didn't even know how long it'd been since I slept, but it felt like over forty eight hours.

"Well. At least you're all still here." He looked us all over. "Kinda hard to spot ya. Almost walked right by."

"Hmmm." I kept my eyes closed for a moment longer before I looked up. "Kids need to get in the middle. Imam and I can pull the cells. You lead." I was exhausted, but I wanted to be safe before resting.

"If you say so, sweetheart." He gave a smirk. The con then turned to the kids. "You stay together in the light, ya got that?" They all nodded. "Good. Let's go."

I was ready to pass out. And we still hadn't made it to the fucking toppled bones. When the blue blood began pouring from the sky, I glared and continued on, stubbornly.

"Don't look up!" Riddick called back. We all obeyed.

A weight fell onto the sled, and I turned back. One had fallen on top of the sled. "Richard!" I shouted. Everyone halted and turned to see the problem.

"Fuck." Riddick cursed. He moved the beast off of the cells and turned to me. "The sled's holding us back. We need to tie 'em together and drag 'em that way. Cover me." I ushered the kids closer so that we were all together as he made quick work of tying them together. "I'll carry 'em. You just clear my path." He ordered. I nodded.

"Imam. I'm taking point, you keep the kids between me and you." I called to the holy man. He agreed, and we were on our way.

We got to the bone blockade and I began shoving the obstacles out of my way. _Like hell am I gonna just lay down and die here. Not until I know I won't make it._ I kept moving, until I heard The eldest Arab son cry out. I turned my head to see his leg was fucked. I repressed the urge to let loose a slew of curses. Riddick managed to get ahead of me as I moved to get the boy further away from one of the things. My back was turned, so I didn't see the spike that rammed itself into my shoulder. "FUCK!" I shouted. I carefully pulled myself off of the thing's spike and used my knife to slit its throat. I shoved my hand into my bag, pulling out a couple of tampons. "Jack." I handed her one. "Take it out of the plastic pieces and put it in the entrance of the wound as far as you can without losing the string." I instructed as I did the same to the front. I felt the pressure as she did as I said. She then ran forward.

"Riddick!" Riddick hadn't stopped I didn't expect him to, yet. I saw the thing coming for her.

"Jack! Get down!" She looked up in time to dive under a flat piece of bone. It was trying to get her through the bone, breaking through little by little with its hard head. "Hey, fugly!" I pulled my tazer out and tried to get it to work, only for it to die on me. I shined my LED at it, trying to get it to run, but that just seemed to make it madder.

"Riddick!" she cried helplessly. I pulled out my shiv just as he turned to look back at us. I jumped on the beast, slamming the shiv into a soft spot at the base of the skull, effectively severing the spine. The monster collapsed, and I fought to pull out my blade. Before I could hop down and help Jack up, Something wet dropped on my nose. I looked up, and it began to pour.

"Fucking LOVELY!" I shouted upwards. "What the fuck did we ever do to you!?" I shouted to the sky, at whatever deity watching over us. I could hear Riddick laughing.

"Where is your God now?" He addressed the holy man. We huddled close to the wall, trying to keep the flames going.

"The skiff isn't far, right?" Jack called to Riddick. He didn't answer as he really looked at all of us. Two of the more able bodied people were badly wounded and there were two children. I could see him fighting with himself. "Please tell me it's right there." Jack begged.

"We can't make it." I tried to hold back the pain from my face and closed my eyes. As much as I had hoped he wouldn't have to, I knew it was his only chance to get off this rock. And he was the only one left who could pilot.. _So this is it. Fry isn't here to talk him into coming back. And I can't make it with this wound and my exhaustion. None of the others would make it._ I heard the tail slither down and swung my blade just above the eldest Arab boy's head and effectively ended one of the monster's attempt at fishing for victims. I saw the cave.

"Everybody, get in." I pointed. Imam and the eldest boy were first, and I was going to be next. Riddick tried to pull me back. I looked up at him with resignation in my eyes. "Let go." I murmured, careful to not let the others hear. The kids had made it in.

"No. Come with me." He tried to tug me away from the mouth of the cave.

"I'm too badly wounded. I'll collapse before we get there. You can't carry me and the cells effectively. I like taking care of you, Richard. Let me do that one more time, okay? At least one of us needs to get off this rock. Go." I cradled his face with my good hand. He looked at me with pain in his eyes. He swooped down for a kiss, crushing me to him. This one wasn't tender. This one was desperate. This was goodbye. I pulled away and backed into the little cave, keeping eye contact with him as he shut us in.

"Where is he going?" Jack panicked.

"He can't care for the injured and take those cells to the ship." I said to Jack. She looked so scared. "He'll come back." I lied. I sat down, barely holding on to consciousness. I wasn't losing much blood, so I assumed that I hadn't hit any major blood vessels, but exhaustion was creeping up on me. "Nobody leaves the cave until he's back." I ordered drowsily, setting my bottle down. I curled up, and almost instantly fell into the dark abyss of sleep, not even staying awake long enough to see them nod in complacency.

_Please let death be quick for us all when it comes._

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

 

Riddick

I pushed myself up the incline, seeing the settlement just meters away. _Damned woman. When did she get under my skin? When did I start caring about whether she lived or died? The most I've ever thought of women was how to get them in bed. What the hell makes her different?_ I got the ship open and started hooking up the power cells. It didn't take long to get the lights on, but I did a quick systems check. I was prepping for takeoff when I took notice of an uncomfortable bulge in my pocket. I reached in to fish out her little light. Something snapped inside me as I looked at the little thing. I couldn't leave her to be bug food. I wouldn't. _ **Not leaving what's ours.**_ The beast rumbled. I gave it one last once over before running back out into the dark and wet. _Baby girl, you've been looking after me this whole time. It's time I returned the favor. Just hold on til I get there._

* * *

Sam

I didn't wake from Imam and the youngest boy crying when the eldest died from blood loss. I didn't wake when Jack and Imam combined the bottles of alcohol to keep the light burning. I didn't wake when the light died off. I didn't wake when they discovered glowing larvae and filled the bottles as much as possible. I did, however, jerk awake when the stone blocking our cave began to move. Before I could process my own movement, I found myself hunched in front of the others, shiv and rod crossed in front my own body, ready to defend them to the death.

The stone pulled away, and all I could see was pitch black. Then a human face came into the light. _Riddick._

"Hey, sweetheart." He grinned at me. Then he turned his attention to the other three living. "Anybody not ready for this?"

"You were right, Sam! I never had a doubt." Jack grinned at the con.

"There is my god, mister Riddick." Imam exclaimed tiredly As he hugged his only remaining son left. We piled out of the cave and I put away my weapons.

"Alright, Imam, Jack, Ali. You go ahead of me. Its a straight shot to the settlement from here. You'll see the light. Sweetheart, I'm carrying you. With as exhausted as you are, it'll be faster this way." I nodded tiredly. "Do not turn back for anything. If I fall behind, wait at the ship and we'll get there as soon as we can." He barked at them. They nodded quickly in fear.

"Possum or kangaroo?" I asked. Everyone looked at me in confusion. I sighed. "Am I gonna be on your back like a possum or at your front like a kangaroo?"

"You're going piggy back." He chuckled. "Easier to keep my center of gravity." He knelt down on one knee and I was careful in climbing onto him. I tried to position my arms so that I wouldn't impede breathing or blood flow to his head, and wrapped my legs around his waist and locked my ankles. His hands supported my weight by holding onto my thighs. "Hold on tight, beautiful." He muttered to me. I squeezed my arms a bit. "Alright, let's get moving!" He called out. The others obeyed quickly, pushing ahead.

Riddick called for a halt and I looked up from his shoulder. There were four black silhouettes facing off against each other. "Three, two, one!" He grabbed Jack's hand, and she grabbed Ali's. Ali gripped Imam's hand. I held on like my life depended on it. Which... It kinda did. They charged through, wielding the lights and scaring off the beasts. Riddick began pushing the others up the muddy incline. "Sweetheart, your light's in my pocket. Keep the fuckers off me, okay?" He breathed. I grunted the affirmative as I leaned down and pulled out the light and twisted to shine it behind us. They tried to get closer, but I would shine the light in their faces and they'd fall back with shrieks of pain. He climbed up the incline quickly, but he had fallen behind the group. I was sure they had gotten to the ship, though. We were being chased.

Through all the excitement, I must have fallen asleep for a moment, because I jerked awake when he hit the ground with a shout. My shiv was out and I was on my feet, in front of him. I growled low in my throat, ready to attack without a second thought.

When I saw and heard no immediate danger, I turned my eyes to him. I cut another strip of my shirt to use as a makeshift bandage for the wound on the outside of his thigh. "Don't you drop now, Riddick." I hissed. "Please. Get up. I'm not leaving you here!" I managed to pulled him up, supporting him with my injured shoulder. It agitated the wound enough for more blood to hit the ground. He looked down at me, obviously smelling the blood again. The sheer horror on his face was enough for me to notice my flashlight was dying. "Fuck! Riddick, put on your goggles." I jerked the lantern out of my bag, and just as he pulled down his eye-wear, I felt the sharp stab of another spike start to push through my body. I slammed the lantern on, and the spike disappeared as the creature behind me screeched its pain. I held the lantern high above my head as we stumbled toward the ship.

We made it to the lit up ship to see three relieved faces staring back at us. I lowered my arm, grateful to be alive.

* * *

Riddick

She was sleeping in the copilot seat, the other three asleep in their seats as well. _What have you done to me? Just what was in that tea, huh?_ I chuckled inwardly. _You soldiered through all of that shit, and even with your wounds, you beat the odds. Speaking of wounds..._ I lifted her from her seat, waking her slightly.

"Richard? What are you doing?" She mumbled.

"Really gotta fix your wounds, baby girl." I murmured lowly.

"Med kit in my bag." She gestured sleepily to the bag leaning against her chair. I carefully eased her to the floor, following after her so that I could rummage through her bag.

"Baby, I'm gonna need your shirt off. That's where all your wounds are, right?" I coaxed. This seemed to wake her up more.

"Hmmm? Yeah." She pulled off her tattered shirt and tossed her useless bra away. The spike through her shoulder had cut one of the straps, so she really had no use for it anymore. Despite her injuries, I couldn't help but see just how beautiful she was.

 _Fucking gorgeous._ The cool air had her nipples puckering. _They're like gumdrops. Just begging to be sucked on._ I heard my beast growling with desire at the observation. _You and me both._ I fought my arousal down and began cataloging her injuries. The one in her back was my first priority as I prodded it. It didn't look like any major blood vessels were hit. It didn't get far enough inside to do any damage to her internal organs, so I made sure to dowse it in antiseptic. She hissed under her breath, and I chuckled. There were no chipped bones, so I figured it just needed to be stitched shut.

"You got a stitch kit in this thing?" I asked. She nodded drowsily, and I pulled it out. "What were you preparing for? The apocalypse?" I teased her. She giggled.

"Honestly? I just had that thing packed for a hiking trip about a couple weeks ago. I didn't fully unpack from it. Hate being around civilization too much. Nature is my reprieve." She shrugged, probably causing a tugging sensation in her shoulder and she winced. "I always keep half of my supplies in my bag so that if I feel like just bolting, I can grab some more food on the way. Normally, I have my whetstone and hunting knife in there, too. Guess I pulled it out at some point."

"Civilized don't cut it for you, either, huh?" I smirked. I moved to her shoulder, pulling out the cotton cylinders.

"That happens with all the shit I've been through." She informed me as I checked through her wounds and began pulling splinters of bone out. Her shoulder blade had been nicked.

"Yeah? Like what?" I asked, focusing on my task.

"As soon as I could toddle, my dad was teaching me survival tactics and training me in martial arts, and how to use weapons. Mother wasn't happy with that. She wanted a demure little debutante she could drape with satin and lace. Instead she got an adventurous little hellion. She always fought with my dad about that. But he didn't live long enough for her to divorce him. He got real sick when I was seven. Died shortly after. Mother remarried a few months later. Bastard was a sexist, abusive piece of shit. But only to me. Any time I didn't do things like he thought I should, he beat me. Didn't hit my face though. Didn't want questions asked. Mother let him do it, thinking it'd get her the daughter she always wanted. I started getting out of the house and hanging with the kids of the slums. My family was pretty well off, so apparently that was a slap in the face to them. We were always getting into shit. Climbing buildings, scaling fences; there wasn't much you could keep us out of. Fucker found out where I was going every day and found me. Dragged me by the hair into our house. Threw me down the basement stairs. Kept me there. Mother would bring me my meals. She never looked me in the eye or spoke to me. I didn't bother trying to talk to her unless to ask for books. She didn't want me uneducated, so she'd bring lots of books down for me." She hissed when I began to pour antiseptic into the wound.

"He came down, too. Sometimes to beat me, sometimes to show me the only thing girls were good for." I growled at the insinuation as I threaded the needle. "This went on until I was a little past my fourteenth birthday. He came down to do his dirty deeds, and when he was done and distracted, I knocked him out and ran. They forgot that I had nothing to do but read or exercise. I made it to the police station, and I think a few of the guys there fainted. Events that night were blurry, but he wound up with a life sentence and divorce papers. My mother never spoke to me after." She looked off into space, paying no mind to the close knit stitches I was putting into the back of her shoulder. "I went back on the streets, and most of my friends were gone. Moved, put in homes, juvie, dead... I had a couple left, and they introduced me to their other friends. A few of them clicked with me, and we got along great. Still got into shit, still pulled stupid stunts. I was just shy of sixteen when shit hit the fan. The fucker got some of his... associates to kidnap me. They were a group of militarized criminals. One of my friends were with me, so they nabbed her too. They said we were in there for months. She was kept in a different part of the building than me. But the whole place was dark.I didn't keep time, I was too busy being brutalized. Pain was all I really understood for a while. But they got sloppy."

She took a shuddering breath, and it took every last ounce of my self control to not wrap her up in my arms. "I got myself free somehow. It was so dark, I almost missed the stray piece of pipe. Every little detail my dad taught me for stealth when hunting came back to me. First guy I came across that was alone, I slammed the pipe into his head. He was out cold. I took every weapon from him, along with his com link and anything I deemed useful. I listened in on the link until I knew where my friend was. After that, I just used all stealth to maneuver myself there. When I got there, she was broken. She couldn't even recognize me. Wouldn't stop screaming. I cut her free and knocked her out. I don't remember what happened after that. I just remember coming to at the police station, carrying her on my back covered in blood. Found out later that when they found the building, nobody but us was left alive. She got put in a psyche ward. I visited her once, only for her to start screaming that I was a demon. I was told to leave and never come back by her parents and the staff. Some time later, I found out she committed suicide a few months after being admitted there."

"As soon as I could, around seventeen, I got a job. Got emancipated. I was lucky my dad left me my own account, because it helped me get a place to live. A few friends stuck around but by then, I was well on my way to being a recluse. As friends lost touch or died one by one, I went out into society less and less. They're all gone, so I just left the house to work, grab food, or go camping or hiking. Normal people don't understand the kind of shit I've been through. They don't care." She looked up at me as I moved to stitch up the other side of her shoulder wound. I met her eyes and almost wished I hadn't. They looked haunted.

"Helion Prime is pretty civilized." I muttered, bringing my eyes back to my work. "When we get there, I'm dropping them off, getting supplies, and taking off." I glanced up to see her nodding to herself. As if she expected no less than to be left behind. "If you come with me, you'll be in a lot of danger. You'll have to adapt or die. You'll need every survival tactic you know for it. I don't intend to stay on any civilized planet..." She froze. As she began to relax, I was busy berating myself. _After all the shit she's been through, I'm asking her to come with me? Have I gone insane? Hasn't she been through enough? **Never leaving her. Perfect for us. She will bear strong young.** Whoa. I'm not knocking her up any time soon, if ever. Way too much shit could go wrong while we're out there. She won't thank me for that._

"Sounds like fun." She gave a wry grin.

"You think so?" I chuckled. "Then we'll be sure to get two of everything. And stay long enough to get healed up. Maybe get inoculated and all that" _Maybe a contraceptive that works indefinitely until it's taken out... I don't think I'll survive with her being so close indefinitely without touching her._

"And a comb." She giggled. "Dreds are not my style." I snorted at the mental image that presented.

"Right." I agreed through my laughter. "We'll get you a comb."

"Sounds like a plan." Her face was set in a serene smile.

"Yup." I checked her over. "Only one more injury, and You're free." I teased.

"Then it's your turn." She gave me a mischievous grin. I quirked an eyebrow at her. "Your leg?" I looked down to see the wound still slowly oozing blood. I frowned.

"I can do that." I tried to avoid eye contact with her.

"Richard." Her voice was soft, but I still didn't meet her gaze as I unwrapped her last wound. It looked like infection was starting to set in. I grimaced. "Baby, look at me." It caught me off guard. My gaze met her surprised face. Like she hadn't intended to call me that. I smirked.

"I could get used to you calling me that, baby girl" I purred at her. I was pretty sure she was blushing with how she averted her gaze.

"Please let me take care of you." It was a whisper. I finished cleaning out the cut and began wrapping it up in fresh bandages from her kit. _How can I say no to you? Especially when you ask all sweet-like..._

"Whatever you want, sweetheart." I tied off the new wrappings and pulled her in for a kiss. _Whatever you want, I'll do my damnedest to give you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just letting y'all know this isn't the end. But I am skipping over Dark Fury. And there'll be a big time skip. Hope you liked it.


	8. Chapter 8

*Five years later, UV System, sixth planet*

"Where's my little housewife?" Riddick called from the mouth of the cave with a cocky smirk.

"You're hallucinating again, Richard. You don't have a housewife." I called back from my station at the fire so that the stew didn't burn. "Pretty sure you don't have a wife at all."

"Let's see, you always have something hot for me to eat. You keep the pelts clean. You check me over for any injuries when I get back, and if I am injured, you doctor me up, all nice like. You mend all the clothes. We fuck _every_ night-" I cut off his list with a hiss.

"Richard!"

"-You're practically my wife in everything but name, baby girl." He finished with a grin. "Smells good. How _do_ you get it to smell and taste so good?"

"The lichen around here works wonders. I looked around for any hardy herbs that wouldn't poison us, and there's some kind of root vegetable that grows around here." I shrugged. "You're a hunter, I'm a gatherer." He pulled me into an embrace and kissed my temple.

"Sexy and smart. Did I get lucky or what?" He purred into my hair.

"Yes, yes. Get off, before the stew burns." I chastised jokingly.

"Let it burn, then." He muttered stubbornly. His frostbitten face was buried in the crook of my neck. I wriggled an arm free to stir the stew, even while he was having his weird moment. _Been about five years, and I still don't get him. I know it goes beyond just liking how I smell, but I still don't get him. The psychological study saying you get to know someone after four years of dating was wrong. Hell, I've been sleeping with him for five years, and all I've really gathered that I can understand is that his stamina is through the roof, and he likes my cooking._

"In any case, even if I am your wife in all but name, I'm still not a housewife." I brought up our original conversation. "...I'm more of a cavewife." I deadpanned. I was rewarded by his booming laughter against my shoulder.

"You really are cute sometimes, you know?" He teased, finally letting go of me. I almost whimpered from the loss of contact. _Maybe he does it to get warm._ I thought absently.

"Not cute." I wrinkled my nose. "Call me cute again and see if you get dinner tonight." I eyed him. His smirk didn't drop. It was hard to spot with the beard but I knew it was there. _Cocky shit knows I'm not gonna make him go without._ "Anyway, were you able to bring back any more game?"

"Yeah. After we eat, we can get it prepped." He sat back onto some stone he had practically claimed for himself on the opposite side of the fire.

"Gotcha." I nodded, bopping my head to some distant tune in my head, barely aware that I was humming.

"Why don't you sing anymore? Haven't heard you in a long time." He asked suddenly, startling me slightly.

"Dunno, just can't remember any words lately. The melody, not that hard to remember, but the words are are a different matter all together." I shrugged it off but noticed the frown marring his brow.

"If I remember a song, I'll sing for you. Okay?" I tried to sooth him. His answering nod was the best I'd get at the moment. I sighed. "Anyway, dinner's ready." I carefully dished out the stew into our bowls made from some animal's skulls and handed him his first before I even ladled mine out.

"Always taking care of me." He commented absently as I sat down at his feet, leaning against his leg. His free hand was in my hair as he gulped and chewed his food.

"It's what I'm good at." I chuckled. "I take care of my man." I almost froze when I realized what I'd said. I took a gulp of my food, trying to ignore my growing unease. His hand had ceased combing through my hair, and some part of me worried I had overstepped my boundaries.

"I've been waiting a long time for you to call me that." He chuckled before setting his empty bowl down. "What took so long?"

"Didn't know the beast was so anxious to be collared." I commented lightly.

"Just so long as you realize it goes both ways, I'm content." His voice was a near growl, signalling me to finish my food. His mood had shifted, and I was going to feel it in the morning. Just like every morning. I gave one last swallow and set my bowl aside before turning to the beast of a man staring at me with a sort of hunger. I carefully stood up, backing away from him slowly.

"Richard...?" I tried to placate. "We still haven't cleaned the game yet." I edged around the fire, his eyes following my every move.

"It'll keep. It's pretty cold out there." He stood up, mimicking my speed of movement, getting ready to corner me. I felt a spike in my belly at what was coming next. He lunged for me, growling playfully. I shrieked in response and took off further into the cave, where our mound of pelts were. I banked a hard right, trying to avoid the grabby hands that almost had my hips. I heard his rumbling laughter as he continued to give chase. It didn't last much longer. I was cornered. His arms wrapped around my waist, and hoisted me up into the air. I gave a shrieking giggle as I flailed pathetically.

"Put me down!" I cried. "Put me down, you brute!" He tossed me into the furs, giving me a playful smirk. I huffed.

"You said put you down." He teased before shedding his clothes, and I followed his lead. Some may argue that that wouldn't be the brightest idea, but when we burrowed into the furs and pelts of our bed, we didn't need clothes. We shared body heat.

He climbed into our bed and pulled me under his body. With one hand cradling my head, snared in my hair, the other was teasing the skin at the apex of my thighs. I let out a whimper as his fingers began to slick themselves with my arousal.

"Already ready for me, baby girl?" He gave a heated kiss.

"Aren't I always?" I retorted breathlessly between kisses. He chuckled into a kiss before sliding one finger inside. My breath hitched and my hands found purchase on his muscled biceps. I moaned lowly and he purred in satisfaction.

"Never ceases to amaze me how tight you are." He practically groaned into my shoulder. He added a second digit, causing my grip on his arms to tighten.

"Richard, please." I whimpered. My hips bucked against his warm hand.

"Please what?" He crooned while adding a third, causing me to buck harder. "What do you need, baby girl?"

"Please... Take me." I plead. I didn't have to ask twice. The fingers were removed, only to be replaced by a thick mushroom shaped head. I wriggled, almost ready to sob with need. He thrust forward, impaling me in one swift motion. I gave a strangled scream of relief. I didn't have time to take a deep breath before he set a punishing pace. The air grew thick with the scent of sex, and the sounds of skin slapping against skin and moans from both parties, punctuated by his curses and grunted dirty talk. Riddick wasn't remiss with details though. His hands teased and tweaked my breasts, never letting up for a moment.

I felt that cliff of euphoria rapidly approaching and my hands that had wandered to his back dug in, leaving scratches down his tanned back, mingling with the other scratches I had left in nights previous. He gave a resounding growl that reverberated through my entire being. I answered with an undignified mewl as his teeth sank into my shoulder, renewing the mark that never really left my person in five years; only changed slightly, as scars were interlaced with each other since he started breaking skin. He gave a few more thrusts before warmth flooded my womb. Everything whited out.

* * *

I woke with my head on his chest, feeling pleasantly sore and relaxed. He was playing with a lock of my hair, and I gave a contented purr.

"You're always so sensitive to me." His voice gave the impression of smugness.

"You always say that." I chuckled.

"It's always true." He gave a shrug, displacing me slightly. I nuzzled into his neck, only to stop and stare at his shoulder.

"That's new." I eyed the bite mark. "Did I do that?" I carefully traced over the scabbed wound with a gentle finger. I had drawn blood in my lust hazed mind, and it seemed his new wound was sensitive. He sucked in a breath before rolling himself on top of me and pinning my hips down with his own.

"Yes you did." His voice dropped even lower than usual in a mix between a purr and growl. His member began to harden against me, and I saw the lustful glimmer into eyes. "You should do it more often."

"Damn, how do you always have so much energy?" I breathed in false exasperation. He answered with a chuckle before dipping down for another kiss.

* * *

"Stay by me!" He called as we jumped from rock to rock. The ship was coming toward us at an alarming rate. I pumped my legs with vigor, almost running ahead of my larger counterpart. Adrenalin was coursing through my veins as nets began getting speared into the ground as we dodged and weaved from them. We had managed to make it to the large mountain with a huge system of caves, the biggest having swooping arches of stone.

"Took 'em long enough, but what tipped them off?" I shouted over the roar of the wind. He grabbed my hand and jerked me in front of himself as one of the harpoons for the net caught his leg. He pulled the spear from his leg and growled.

"Don't know. You go that way. We'll take down the gunners once they move in." He instructed.

"Got it." I nodded before leaping and climbing up the walls of the cave, leaving him to lure them in. By the time they had entered the cave, I was already in waiting. They'd never see me coming. The ship came into view, and I watched them turn on their headlights, hoping to catch a peek of us. Riddick was hiding behind a coincidentally perfect shaped rock. He looked my way and nodded. Just as he cut the gunner on his side loose, I moved quickly to cut the other free, but snap his neck so that he couldn't alert them to my presence. I quickly climbed up, onto the ship, crouching low by Riddick. He waited for the next merc to get into perfect position for snatching. I held in a giggle as he dropped the guy.

He ushered me forward. "Stay right here until it's safe. Gonna get some information from this guy. Then we'll be off." I nodded obediently. He smirked under his beard.

"Maybe next planet can be warmer. Still say you look off with all this hair. Especially since you won't let me comb it." I teased quietly. I couldn't be sure, but I thought he might have rolled his eyes.

He jumped down silently. I sat at the top of the door, listening to his sinful baritone. "You made three mistakes. First: you took the job. Second: you came in light. A four man crew for me? Fucking insulting. For the both of us? It's way beyond insulting. Fucking humiliating. But the worst mistake you made: empty gun rack." There was a scuffle and a thump against the roof of the hull. "What's the bounty on our heads?"

"One mil." A greasy voice answered. A thump. "Ah! One point five. Each."

"What slam pays one point five for a convict and his partner?" He sounded a bit accusing.

"Private party." The merc corrected. There was a tearing of cloth. "Hey, hey, hey! Hey! Got it, got it! Easy! Anonymous. That's what the sheet said."

Riddick was getting impatient with the idiot. "What planet!" He snarled loudly.

"Helion Prime..." The merc I knew as Toombs gritted his teeth in defeat. There was a beat of silence before it sounded like the idiot had tried to get up. The singing of a blade through air.

"Whoa, where are you going?" There was a frown in his voice. It soon turned thoughtfully amused. "Last question; and you better get this one right, merc. Who's ship is this?"

"Mine?" I thought I smelled urine in the air and grimaced. There was a shout as Riddick tossed him out of the ship.

"Baby girl, get in here. We're heading out." He called.

"Yes, dear." I sang playfully, swinging myself in from the door frame. I swung right into his waiting arms as he closed the hatch and gave me a frostbitten kiss. He buried his face into my neck and took a deep breath before releasing me to work at the controls.

"Hang on to something. I might be a little rusty." He instructed as he took command of the ship.

"Aye, captain." I joked, latching onto the back of his chair.

_Guess our winter wonderland vacation had to end sometime._

* * *

Riddick

I'd just gotten the autopilot set to Helion Prime and was getting things ready for the two of us to settle into cryo sleep when my mind started to wander.

_Knew they'd come for us... Took 'em five years, but I knew._

_Ya don't expect these mercs to have any honor. Any code._

_But this new bounty... From a holy man.  The guy who's neck I saved._

I clapped on the cryo brace, watched the chemicals mix in the tubes.

_Well, lesson learned. No such word as friend._

_Can only end bad when you let someone get too close._ A mental chuckle.

_Bad for them._

I turned to see Sam mimicking my movements in her harnessed seat, getting the cryo brace on and ready to be put to sleep. _She's the exception. Always taking care of me. Always ready to move at my pace, as if it's her own._

_Friend doesn't accurately describe her. I jokingly call her my housewife, but am I really far off? **Mate.**_

We locked eyes for a moment, and she gave a smile before resting back in her chair, closing her eyes.

_So now, it's back to all the brightness. And everything we hate. Wonder if she'll be there?_

* * *

Her heartbeat never truly slowed. Nor did her breathing. _Maybe she's awake too._

_They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo sleep._

_"-brain shuts down in cryo sleep."_ A voice echoed my musings.

_All but the primitive side._

_"All but the primitive side."_ Again, the voice mimicked. I turned my eyes toward Sam to find her staring up at the ceiling boredly. She was just as awake as I was.

_The animal side._

_"The Furyan side."_ The voice corrected. I turned my chair to see a strange portal sort of thing. The land there was riddled with tombstones. A woman was coming closer to me as she spoke.

 _"Some of us still remember the true crime that happened here, on Furya. Your mate remembers; and once you wake, truly wake, you'll remember, too."_ Her hand came closer to my chest and I was unable to move, the cryo sleep serum still in my veins.

I was jerked to full waking by the ship being jerked about by another vessel. The light inhibitors were torn off of the windows causing me turn away from the blinding light. I heard a growling hiss and looked up to see my smaller counterpart trying to curl in on herself, away from the light. I jerked on my goggles to better see as we both disengaged from our cryo braces.

_What the fuck is it now?_

 


	9. Chapter 9

 

I watched the people move outside, warily. Even from this distance I could hear the murmurs of disquiet. It was making me edgy. Some part of me was glad to be free of animal skins and in civilized clothes, as I continued to finger the soft fabric that draped down to my wrist. I saw Imam walking, his gait nervous as he made his way to his own door. I moved back to Riddick, turning my attention to the shaving man. The door opened, and in walked the holy man. For as nervous as he was, he wasn't good at keeping note of his surroundings.

"Did ya know all your doors were locked?" Riddick got the mans attention. He searched the room in a sweep of his bespectacled eyes. Then they landed on us. The acrid smell of fear started to waft my way. My nose wrinkled. "Five years ago, took three people off that planet. A woman, Sam, who likes to take care of me. A kid, Jack, who everybody else thought was a boy, and a holy man searching for new mecca." I almost purred at his newly shaven appearance. I noticed Imam's gaze drift upward.

"Looking for your wife?" I tilted my head. I was aware it made me seem more canine, but it didn't bother me.

"She's in the shower." Riddick informed. And just like that, the mans heartbeat slowed, the stench of fear abated just a bit, and his eyes were now trained on us. "I told one man where we might go. I trusted one man. Did I make a mistake, Imam?" Riddicks voice was so quiet, it almost seemed like a purr.

"There's no simple answer-" He jerked once Riddicks blade came in contact with his throat, not yet cutting. "Whatever was said was meant to give us a chance. A fighting chance." Riddick felt eyes on his back apparently, because his head turned, trying to hear, to smell something to give this person away. "Were it not for the threat of invasion, I never would have betrayed you two." Riddick no longer listened to the holy man, turning to see a child crouched behind the banister. Upon seeing his eyes, she perked up.

"Riddick?"I looked up to the child, amused by my companions reaction. He had stowed away his blades, and his aura, his whole demeanor, changed, though he hadn't moved from his spot in front of Imam. _He has a soft spot for kids. Don't know how I could forget that._

A warmth bubbled up inside me, at the sight of him trying to seem more inviting to the kid. _**Perfect mate**. I thought I got rid of you with therapy, years ago._ I grit my teeth. Now was not the time to lose my shit.

The holy mans wife swept into the room, freezing upon seeing two unfamiliar people in her house. She recognized Riddick, though. "Riddick." _There's the scent of fear again..._

"Your daughter... Whose name would be...?" He moved to the end of the staircase as the child made to come down to inspect the convict, only to be stopped by her mother. I couldn't help but move closer to Riddick. The child's eyes alighted on me.

"And Sam!" She chirped in excitement. I blinked. I looked at Imam questioningly.

"If you have issue with me, let it be with me. You need not know their names." Imam tried to sound fearless, but his scent gave him away. _Your fear is clouding your judgement, holy man. He does't hurt kids._

"Siza." Everyone's attention turned to the girl. "My name is Siza." He moved to block the staircase with his body a bit, getting a better look at the child.

"Siza..." He tried the name on his tongue, and my heart fluttered. He turned his eyes to Imam. "Cute kid." _He'd make a good father... Fuck! I gotta stop thinking about that._

"Did you really kill monsters?" Riddicks eyes trained back on the child. "The ones that were gonna hurt my father?" He turned his head to Imam, giving him a questioning glance. "And Sam, did you really ride one?" I straightened up in embarrassment. "Like a warrior princess?" I shot Imam a glance. I noted Riddick had glanced down at me with amusement.

"Such are our bedtime stories." He said in way of explanation. His wife ushered their child away, getting her ready for bed. The girl's eyes trained on us.

Once both of them were out of sight, he seemed to hunch over a bit. I looked up to see a look of resignation on his face. My hand crept to his back, rubbing the slowly tensing muscles.

"So who do I have to kill to get this payday off my head?" He gave a near growl.

* * *

"It is said, the comet always precedes them. These world enders." Imam murmured as Riddick sat himself comfortably in a chair, dominating the space as usual. I made to stay standing, but the thickly muscled man tugged on my robes, beckoning me to sit on his lap silently. I stopped listening to the holy man's description of the casualties, noting Riddick had turned his visual attention away from the holy man to stare at the little girl who had snuck out of bed to watch us. "Have you heard anything I said?" He questioned, fear and impatience colored his tone.

"You said it's all circling the drain, the whole universe, right?" Riddick answered.

"Yes, that's right." Imam agreed.

She wiggled a finger at us, and I gave a wry grin as he slowly pushed the door closed enough for he and I to be out of her sight line.

"It all had to end, sometime." His reply had me grinning. Some part of me felt just a bit bad at the loss of life, but my conscience had deserted me years before I had been dumped on that crashing ship. My hand moved to rub the back of Riddicks freshly shaven head and repressed a purr of satisfaction. He looked and felt better bald. I could see Imam's face; he was shocked. Why? Just because he saved their skins once, he was automatically the man to call in times of a crisis? I rolled my eyes and laid my head on his shoulder. I breathed in his scent, deciding now would be a great time for a nap. "How long until they get here?"

"It will be a few hours, at least." The holy man admitted.

"Fine. Leave us here. Sweetheart needs her rest." I felt one of his rough, warm hands rubbing my back and I nuzzled into the crook of his neck with a smile. I heard footsteps recede from the room.

"Gonna need people a some point, though." I murmured sleepily.

"Yeah? How you figure?" His rumbling voice washed over me and I sighed in contentment.

"Someday, when things calm down and there's no bounty on your head, I'd like to see you a father." I gave a soft smile. A rumbling purr emanated from his chest. "Can't do that without a doctor to take out the contraceptive."

"When you're right, you're right." He held me close. I gave a little whine from my throat in contentment as he turned his head and buried his nose in my hair. I dozed lazily, like a cat in sunlight.

 _Here they come._ Imam was ushering them inside. I turned and watched as they stood in a line in front of us. _Just guards._ I branched out my senses, feeling the hair at the back of my neck stand on edge.

"The one you want is now here." Imam addressed us. Riddick closed the door leading to the rest of the house, spinning to unmask the first guard. I could see his calculating gaze pick them apart in his mind, slowly moving down the line. The rest unmasked themselves in lieu of the rough treatment they'd have had from Riddick. He stared at them, coming to the conclusion that none of these three were who he was looking for. He looked behind us, at the flickering candles and pulled me to his other side with one arm while the other busied itself holding a blade to the elemental's neck.

"And whose throat is this?" His voice colored with amusement.

"If you cut my throat, I won't be able to rescind the offer that brought you here. Or tell you why it's so vital that you both come." Her voice was soft and lilting. But something about her seemed familiar. Not the movies, but something deeply familiar. On a personal level. I eyed her suspiciously.

"The blade comes off when the bounties come off." Riddick growled.

"This is Aereon. An envoy from the Elementalists. She means you no harm." Imam touched Riddicks shoulder, and I repressed a growl at his stupidity. The one second of distraction left her an opening to spirit herself across the room, far enough out of Riddicks arm span. Riddick was searching for her in the wrong direction.

"There are very few of us who have met a Necromonger and lived to speak of it. So when I should choose to speak of it, you should choose to listen." She intoned, causing Riddick to turn toward her.

"Necromongers?" He smirked, as if to say 'you've got to be joking'.

"It is the name that will convert or kill every last human life. Unless the universe can re-balance itself." She explained. I could see Riddicks wry grin spread just a bit.

"Maybe you should pretend like you're talking to someone educated in the penal system. In fact, don't pretend." It was almost mocking, his voice.

"Speak plainly." I grunted, feeling antsy. He must have noticed my growing unease, because a hand made its way to my back to rub soothing circles.

"Balance is everything to Elementals. Water to fire, earth to air. We have thirty three different words for it. But now have only time to speak of the balance of opposites." She explained.

"Of male Furyans strangled at birth. Strangled with their own cords." Imam intoned. Riddick turned his head away, processing the information. I could see the cogs in his head spinning. "When Aereon told the leaders of Helion this story, I told her of you."

I could feel the confusion warring in his head. Everything he had thought to be true was being flipped on its head. The things that he thought defined him.

"What do you know of your early years?" One of the guards spoke up.

"Do you remember your home world?" Imam queried. "Where it was?"

"Have you met any others?" The guard piped in.

"Others like yourself?" Aereon asked urgently.

This seemed to snap him out of his reverie. He turned to her. "Sister, they don't even know what to do with just one of me." I was so close to her now, I could see what had me so wound up.

"YOU!" I snarled. She ghosted backwards, out of my reach. Riddick held me back with a hand on my shoulder. "You're the one who blipped me onto that fucking ship!"

"Sam?" Riddick looked down at me as Imam called to me hesitantly. I could feel his eyes studying me.

"I did." She admitted. "Because you needed to be there." Her eyes gleamed as she studied the two of us. "Are you not satisfied with the results?" I shied away from her warily.

"You do it again, and I'll find my way back to tear you apart." I hissed, pressing myself against Riddick. His hand moved from my shoulder to my waist.

There came a knock at the door, and he and I both tensed. Somehow the Elemental and her guards had made themselves almost invisible, pressed against the wall when we weren't looking.

Imam's wife ran in. She didn't even notice the extra guards. "They're searching houses." She was nearing hysterics in her fear. Imam shushed her. "They're looking for a man who came here today. They think he might be a spy."

"A spy?" Imam hissed his disbelief.

"Did someone see you come here?" She turned on Riddick. Riddick looked up but did not answer. I glared at her from my place by his side. "Did they?"

Imam rebuked his wife quietly as Riddicks attention moved back to the door he could see from the balcony. "I will send them away. Just stay one minute, please. One minute to save worlds." He begged urgently.

"Not my fight." Riddick growled, blade still in hand. He motioned me to follow as he stepped up into the window, intent on leaving the same way we came.

"You will leave us to our fate? Just like you did her?" He paused. _Jack..._  The door was broken in. "Hurry, we must send them away." The holy man ushered the others out of the room and closed the doors behind him.

"Riddick..." I touched his shoulder gingerly. He allowed it, watching everyone be manhandled out the door. We could hear them calling that there was no-one else in their home, but to no avail. The soldiers came in, searching. Riddick moved me out of the way of danger and gave me a look. _Stay here. Stay unseen._ I nodded. He turned to the burning candles, leaving only two still lit.

The doors to our room burst open and the soldiers noisily entered, seeing only Riddick.

"You're not afraid of the dark, are ya?" He placed his hands over the candles, smothering the flames and plunging the room into darkness. I could see the shadows much better than I used to, the silhouettes taking clear shape. Not that I needed it as they opened fire, creating a strobe effect, as I watched them all get downed one by one. He then swung up into the rafters as the remaining few ceased fire. He jumped from the rafters, taking one down, then swinging his blade, downing the last one in the room. There wasn't a scratch on him. He beckoned me forward, moving to the lone soldier left, holding Imam against the beam by the staircase. He stank of fear, his armor clattering as he shook. He dropped his blade before he turned and fled, leaving behind a waft of urine.

"Why do they always wet themselves?" I grumbled.

"You mentioned her." Riddick frowned at the holy man, after giving a minute smirk.

"Yes. She went looking for you. People died, she went to prison. I don't remember where, but it was a world so hot that you could not survive on the surface."

"Crematoria." He breathed.

"Young Jack saw you both as her older siblings." Imam informed.

"You were supposed to keep An eye on her." I chastised. Riddick and I moved to leave.

"She never forgave you for leaving." We both stopped. His accusing tone was grating on my nerves. "Either of you. Just when she needed you most."

"She needs to stay away from us." Riddick pressed his hand into the small of my back, signalling me to move forward. I complied easily. "You all do.

As we passed, Imams wife pulled their daughter from us. "Riddick?" Siza called. We both turned to stare at the child. "Are you gonna stop the new monsters now?"

He didn't answer, but looked up to the terrace that we had just occupied, to find no hint of the eyes watching us. We turned to leave, and as we strode further away, I heard her voice on the wind.

"Furyans. Defiant to the end."


	10. Chapter 10

Hell was raining down on us. The sky lit up with warfare, the last flimsy defense against the invaders. _I don't wanna be on planet anymore._

"Not to whine, or anything, but damn, I miss the cold already." I groaned. Riddick gave a low chuckle as he held me back. Troupes of some sort marched on, and I could feel my skin crawling.

"Baby girl, once this is over, we'll find a nice place with trees and an ocean and you can wear next to nothing. Deal?" He spared an amused glance at me.

"Just me?" I teased. I was answered with a snort. And just like that, we were running. Below us, people were being trampled on their way to shelter. I kept my eyes trained on his broad, muscled shoulders, while also being sure there was nothing coming for me.

I kept up with him, despite the roof hopping. _Sometimes I wonder if he forgets that my legs are a lot shorter than his..._ He tugged me to his as he paused for a moment, looking at the mayhem lighting up the sky. That was when the 'ship', if it could be called that, smashed down into buildings. The firey light that followed had me sucking in a breath. I pressed myself against him as much as I dared. The lights went out.

We had moved to walk among civilians, though, he refused to let up his bruising grip on my wrist. I winced when it tightened a bit signalling me to stop. I understood the need, but sometimes I wished he knew how strong he was. I moved to see why he had paused and my breath caught. A child, much like Siza was kneeling by a body. Probably a parent. Her eyes were blank, her face wet with tears. My heart strings were sufficiently plucked. I forced back a choking whimper and the sting of tears. He pulled me back to the real world with a jolt as he moved further on. We saw the hell coming for us, and I knew he was getting ready for a fight.

He tugged me forward, and we continued like that for a while. The world was slowing down for me, and I could hardly feel the pain in my wrist anymore. We were hiding behind some archways when Two different troupes set a collision course for each other. I peeked out and hissed. "Imam?" Riddick followed my gaze and gave a quiet growl. He pulled the holy man into hiding by the scruff of his clothes.

"You following us?" _Riddick, now is not the time for your weird humor._

The battle fought before us was gruesome as the people died left and right. Just when it looked like New Meccas little group might have won this battle, the final Necromonger dropped, but not before activating the staff.

Imam moved to try and get to his family, muttering their names.

"When it's over." Riddick held him back.

"I must get to my family!" Imam tried to free himself. Riddick turned to the hysterical man.

"When it's over!" He snarled at the Chrislamist. I held myself against the thickly muscled man, watching the light move further up into the sky, showing just how pathetically outnumbered they were. Then, it was like an EMP. A shock wave blasted the area, leaving only the Necromonger troupes standing in the street. They marched on, trampling the bodies strewn around.

"I borrowed a ship. You can ride along if you don't mind riding with a convict." Riddick offered.

"Thank you. But I must get my family across the river. God willing, there's still a shelter-" Imam rambled.

"I'm sure God has his tricks, but getting out of places no-one else can... That's one of mine." Riddick cut him off. I could feel his resolve strengthening. "Let's get your family." He strode on, having the holy man and me follow.

* * *

We had managed to find his wife and daughter unharmed, but I knew as sure as there are too many stars in the sky to count, Imam wouldn't make it. I wondered briefly if I would make it through this one alive. Would I live long enough to worry about a family? _He's not one for 'I love you's, but would it kill him to tell me what we have? That maybe I didn't imagine all those tender moments when we were on that planet. Does he even realize if he has feelings? Does he have feelings for me at all, that don't include lust?_

He had us hide and I broke out of my reverie. I moved to hide with him, but Imam had grabbed my arm, delaying me just long enough that I was well and truly separated from Riddick in hiding. The creepy fuckers moved through, blasting a soldier that was barely even alive. I pressed myself against the wall, glaring at their backs as they moved further away. That was when the scouter thing began to move back toward our hiding hole. Imam murmured for them to stay before going to lure the fuckers away.

His wife whimpered as another scouter thing spotted us. I moved myself in front of them, holding up two blades, ready to fight. I snarled as it peered at me this way and that. Before I could kill it, Riddick already had its neck in his hands. It was fast.

"Thank you, Richard." I murmured. He nodded. He was itching to make sure the holy man survived. "Go on. I'll take them to safety. I'll meet up with you as soon as I can." I nudged him on. He paused before bending down to give me a quick, heated kiss.

"Stay alive." He ordered. I smiled.

"Definitely in my plans." I teased lightheartedly. And with that, he took off. I turned to the woman and child. "Come on. Stay by me." They moved to follow me as we crept as quietly as possible. Luckily, we didn't run into anybody. We sneaked through alleyways and narrow streets, barely missing detection several times. When I had found a hiding place that the Necromongers had already swept, I ushered them in.

"Come. You both need your rest." I gestured to the easiest spot to defend in the room.

"Will you not rest as well?" The dark woman asked.

"Not tonight. Tomorrow, they should be done scouting around your home. It should be safe to go there." I whispered, keeping my back to them, diligently watching for any signs of danger as they curled into each other for comfort and warmth.

"Are you going to stay with us then?" Siza asked, hopefully.

"No. I'm going to leave to find Riddick when you both wake in the morning." I answered, perking at a noise I thought I'd heard. After a while, it seemed both fell asleep, though the mother's heart beat and breathing didn't slow.

"You love him." It wasn't a question. I didn't freeze like I thought I would.

"Sleep." My voice came out a low growl.

"He loves you, too. I see it in his eyes." The woman seemed to find solace in muttering about my personal life.

"I don't think the word is in his dictionary." I chuckled humorlessly. "Nor do I care. Hasn't been said to me in a long time. Probably won't ever be said to me again."

"Have you ever asked him?" She queried.

"That's not something we talk about." I turned my head slightly to eye her. "Now go to sleep." The woman finally obeyed.

_Sure, he calls me his housewife, and let's me call him mine, but does that really mean anything? I'm sure at some point, there's supposed to be a trade of 'I love you's somewhere. Aside from the physicality of it all, I don't think he's even said it during sex. Not once. Why am I even thinking about this? I've been by his side or five years! Is it because I've been thinking of kids? Fuck! I have to stop. If this goes on, I'm gonna break myself before he gets a chance to break me. If he even does. I mean, hell, he seemed happy at the thought of having kids with me. That counts for something, right?_

Morning came quicker than I'd have liked, but I needed to move. To find where the little pep talk would be. With a quick warning for them to stay unseen, I scurried along rooftops, searching for the group of survivors.

It took two hours to find the group slowly being corralled. I jumped down and pulled up my hood, blending in with the crowd, as they ushered us into what was probably supposed to have been a shelter for these people. The Necromongers filed in, their lord marshal leading the way.

"In this verse," Began a pale blond man with an odd helmet, framing the top of his skull in a manner that I wondered if it even offered any protection, "life is antagonistic to the natural state. Here humans in all their various races are nothing more than a spontaneous outbreak. An unguided mistake. Our purpose is to correct that mistake. Because there is another verse. A verse where life is welcomed." The crowd shuffled nervously. My eyes searched for Riddicks cloaked form, wishing I could have found him before this shit. "A ravishing new place called underverse. But the road to that verse crosses over the threshold."

"Threshold! Take us through the threshold!" The soldiers chanted in terrifying sync.

"What you call," The lord marshal paused for dramatic effect, "death." He sounded amused.

"It is this verse that must be cleansed of life, so that underverse can thrive and prosper." The pale man started up again. I nearly groaned with how annoying their voices were beginning to sound to my sleep deprived mind. Not gonna lie, I started ignoring what was going on around me still searching all the cloaked figures.

Finally. People started kneeling, making my task easier. He pulled his hood back, revealing his shaved head.

I moved quietly, noting that everyone's attention was on him mostly, as I finally caught up to him. A soldier I remembered as Vaako approached us.

"This is your one chance. Take the lord marshal's offer and bow." His steely eyes flitted from Riddick to me briefly.

"I bow to no man." Riddick growled.

Vaako took off his helmet. "He's not a man. He's a holy half dead who's seen the underverse."

"I only bow to him." I jerked my head in Riddicks direction as I stood forward. "And only if I have the inclination." A smirk flitted across my face at Vaako's sudden flash of hunger. I felt Riddicks hand at the small of my back.

"Look, we're not with everyone here. But I will take a piece of him." He pointed out the soldier with the blade still in his back.

Vaako turned to see who he was pointing to, before turning back and murmuring, "A piece, you shall have."

Imam's murderer stepped up, and Riddick pushed me back. He woudn't have me dying at this fucker's hands. I stepped away, just as the big guy swung one of his poll axes. Riddick dodged backward, tossing off his cloak. The fucker swung again and again, as Riddick dodged below, waiting for the inevitable opening he would leave, swing those heavy weapons. He grabbed the hilt of the dagger embedded in the man's back and jerked it out, before stabbing him three times in the torso. The power behind the thrusts actually lifted the guy off of his feet. He fell, dead, rolling down the steps as the frightened people scurried out of the way.

We turned to leave, my eye catching Vaako staring at us in mild surprise. "Stop them." The lord marshals voice echoed his command. A few of the soldiers moved to obey. He slowly approached us, eyes shrewdly dissecting everything in our appearances. He pulled the blade from the dead man's body before taking the steps confidently to meet us. He made a slight gesture toward the corpse. "Irgurn. One of my best."

"If you say so." Riddick smirked. The lord marshal shifted his jaw in barely concealed anger.

"What do you think of this blade?" He offered the blade Riddick had used to slaughter Irgurn. The convict deftly snatched it, spinning it this way and that, showing off a bit before offering it back to the half dead leader.

"I think it's a half gram heavy on the back end." Riddick's smirk still hadn't dropped.

"In our faith, you keep what you kill." He pushed the blade back to the convict. His grip tightened around Riddick's hand, and I edged closer, ready to swipe my blade across his abdomen if he kept up the pressure. Something was creaking. "Are you familiar to me? Have we met on some distant field?" Riddick jerked his hand away.

"You'd think I'd remember." Riddick growled.

"You'd think I would too..." The lord marshal gave a rueful grin. He then addressed the soldiers at our sides. "Take him before the quasi-deads." His gaze flicked down to me. "And bring the girl."

I glared at his back as we were surrounded.

"Perhaps the breeders would do it," a voice broke in before a thin woman broke through the ranks, "if somebody just asked them." She brushed against Riddick seductively, causing me to growl until her hand brushed against me as well. I nearly choked at the absurdity of her hunger for power. My growl returned full force before I stepped between Riddick and the bitch. "It is a rare honor; to visit inside necropolis."

"You don't wanna do that, sister. She's very possessive." The convict intoned smugly. Up until she brushed a bit harder against me. His growl was much lower than mine. "And so am I." He moved me closer until I was practically plastered against his chest.

"We'll go. Just don't touch us." I warned the power hungry bitch.

"Of course." She allowed. "My apologies." We were ushered on, into the heart of the half-dead kingdom.

_Why couldn't the timeline have diverted more? Why couldn't this whole armada get taken out by a real comet or space storm? I miss the UV system._


	11. Chapter 11

 

 

The halls were filled with the monochrome scheme of black and grey with accents of gold. I fought the urge to cower into Riddick's side as we were taken into a room with a strange feel to it. Riddick was sent to the center while I was escorted up into the seats that surround the room.

"Tell me. Do you enjoy being his consort?" The slick voice of Dame Vaako intruded on my thoughts as I watched Riddick bowing in pain.

"I am not his 'consort'. I am his and he is mine." My eyes never left his struggling form, but I stayed wary of this eel of a woman. "His 'ownership' is conditional. As is mine. Fidelity must be absolute. To say I am a consort would cheapen my worth to him."

"He has not taken others?" She seemed surprised. _I guess it's the norm here, for women to be seen as assets with a little more dignity._ "How odd."

"Not really." I dismissed. I listened to the shrieking of the quasi-deads about Furyans. _Fuck. Time to go._ "Not when the animal inside is fully satisfied." I flashed a wicked grin to her stunned face before vaulting over the railing, to Riddick.

"Kill the Riddick! Kill the Riddick! Kill the Riddick!" The creepy things chanted.

"Kill the Riddick! And the girl!" The lord marshal exclaimed. The purifyer deactivated whatever gravity simulator was holding him down, and I was pulled by the scruff of my clothes to Riddick's side as he killed a few soldiers that got in the way before he pulled me with him to be hidden by one of the panels of the quasi-dead. From there, it was running. And we had done plenty of that. My mind was on autopilot, completely zoning out as my body dodged and evaded capture from the Necromongers.

"Stay by me." He growled and I nodded, fingering my hidden blade. A whole ship was coming for us. We ran, and dodged and weaved, I glancing back to see it still on our heels. I heard shots fired, and almost tripped up when I looked back to see the ship taking a nosedive for the ground.

"Richard?!" I warned. He looked back to see what caused the alarm in my tone.

"Leg it!" He shouted back, gripping my hand before pumping his legs even faster. The ship vaulted over us, and he put his hand out, blocking me from running further. I'd probably have a bruise later with the force behind that. The resulting crash was firey and chaotic. We heard footsteps echoing against the dull roar of fire. We both smelled someone familiar.

"Let me guess..." I muttered.

"A five man crew this time." Riddick affirmed. I groaned quietly. He smirked at me.

"There's a couple things you coulda' done better. First is trash the tracking beacon in my ship. The one you jacked." Toombs' voice reminded me of a chain smoker. He probably thought he was cool right now. I held back a snort. "And second, tell your woman to dust my dick when you get the chance. Any questions?" He snickered and I repressed a growl. I looked up at Riddick to find him smirking.

"Yeah..." We turned to them with empty hands as my companion spoke. "What took you so long?" I rolled my eyes. Toombs nodded toward the only female merc in the group, and she came forward with cuffs for the two of us. I glanced at my partner in mild agitation. She snapped the cuffs on him first.

"Come on, big boy." I nearly snarled at her slightly flirting tone. She turned to me in appraisal before slapping my cuffs on a bit harder than necessary. "Got a thing for the little women, it looks like." She mocked. _Do. Not. Bite._ I glowered at her smirking face.

"It's the little ones you gotta watch out for. They hold the most venom in their bites." Riddick chuckled. I looked up at him with confusion on my face. He gave a conspiratorial wink.

* * *

 

The ship was lifting off, and I had been cuffed and chained at his feet. "Suits her for being your little pet, don't ya think?" Toombs chortled. I glared up at his greasy face and leaned back against Riddick's leg the collar having just enough slack, unlike my wrists and ankles. I was stuck in a subservient pose, and the thought occurred to me as to why I was chained like this instead of how Riddick was, aside from space conservation. I was at a certain level for being taken advantage of. In front of Riddick. Only one seemed to be so depraved, but with a threatening click of my teeth, he seemed to banish the thought. _Smart. Stupid, but smart._

Alarms started going off as the ship was being scanned. I glanced up at the con to see his head bowed for only me to see his face. He looked murderous. Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't like my situation.

The mercs threw off the scanners, and Toombs turned to us.

"So where should we drop your merc killing asses? Where do you think they'd pay the most for you and your little whore? Butcher Bay?" Riddick smirked as he tilted his head up to look at the mercs.

"Butcher Bay..." He mused. "Ten minutes every other day after dog run. Protein waffles aren't bad." I wrinkled my nose. _Protein waffles? Ew._

"How about Arcelona? Nice little double max prison." Toombs tried, lighting a cigarette. I almost sneezed. _I hate these people. Smoke always fucks with me. By the end of this trip, my throat's gonna be burning, and I'll be unable to breathe through my nose._

"They keep a cell open for me. Just in case I drop by." Riddick replied with a grin.

"Ya know the problem with these places?" Toombs turned to his buddies. "Health clubs for waffle eating pussies. Maybe we need to think of upping our game here a little bit. Think of something truly diabolical."

"What the hell's he thinking now?" The lone female merc muttered, tossing some food in her mouth with a crunch.

"He's thinking a triple max prison; a no daylight slam. Only three of em left, two of em out of range with a shitty little ship like this one. That leaves just one. Crematoria." I jerked up at the thought at seeing Jack again. I looked up at Riddick, trying to decipher him. _Couldn't in the past five years, can't now._ "That is what you had in mind, right Toombs?" His smirk had grown as he spoke.

"Hey! How come he knows where we're going and we don't?" One of the guys asked, unnerved by the big man behind me. _Because, dear boy, he's playing you._

"Scope it out." Toombs ordered the pilot, ignoring the question.

"I hate this run." The pilot muttered, kissing what was probably a good luck charm around his neck.

"Just. Do it." Toombs growled in his smoker voice.

"I don't know about this new crew of yours, Toombs. They're very... what would you call it, sweetheart?" He angled his head at me and I chuckled.

"Skittish." I supplied.

"Skittish. That's the word." He approved, and if his hand was free, he probably would have pet my head. "They're very skittish. Probably shouldn't tell 'em what happened to the last one."

I snickered. "I promise we won't tell." I teased. The stench of fear began to cloud the ship and I fought back a full blown laugh. It was swallowed down as Toombs swaggered up to us, leaning down to talk in Riddick's face, smoke billowing out of his mouth.

"Ya know, you're supposed to be some slick shit killer. Now look at you. All back of the bus and shit." He mocked, not even seeing the twitch in the con's jaw. He turned away. "Come on, if the course is set, let's get into cryo."

I waited for the chemicals to enter my blood stream and the mercs to go under to utter under my breath for only Riddick's ears. "They really don't know what they're in for."

"Yeah, but none of us really do." He murmured back. "Get some rest baby girl. It's gonna be a while between stops." I leaned into his legs and obeyed, closing my eyes.

* * *

We took turns resting, nudging each other lightly when we were going to sleep. We stayed silent through the trip, keeping up with the guise of being under in case one of the idiots woke up. It was my turn to sleep when just that happened. And she was horny, apparently. I felt a boot step on my hand and barely avoided giving away that cryo didn't put me under. She was climbing onto him, smelling his sweat. I held back the growl as I smelled her arousal. I probably would have lost it if I had smelled his, too, but apparently, she didn't do it for him. There was a slide of material against flesh, probably her curiosity getting the better of her. She sucked in a breath and nearly bowled me over, if he hadn't caught her leg between his own.

"Did you know, you grind your teeth in your sleep?" He asked, amused. The scent of arousal soured to fear and I bit back a grin, struggling to keep a straight face. She managed to get free, breath uneven. I opened my eyes, carefully shaking out my injured hand with a glare. Her eyes darted down to me, and her eyes widened further. "Sexy." Riddick mocked. I snickered. Just then, the ship began beeping as she backed away, and the others started coming to. I looked up at my partner and smirked.

I ignored them all as I locked eyes with him and he gave a grin. He pushed himself up to use the ceiling to push his goggles back down. The crew were beginning to panic as the ship began to heat up, barely managing to slide into the haven of the ship dock with a sigh of relief.

"Real skittish, Toombs." Riddick reiterated. I snickered at the mercs' faces.

"Get 'em up. Let's go." Toombs demanded, pushing his crew into gear. We were escorted none too gently to the transport to the main part of the prison. Riddick was strapped down, and I was chained back down by his feet. One of the greasy fuckers groped my ass, and I snarled.

"Don't touch what isn't yours, pig." Riddick growled in response to my words, but the stupid molester just laughed and sat on the con. The ride started and I was hardly paying attention to the others as I glared balefully at the fucker who dared to touch me. He leaned over and licked his fingers before rubbing them on Riddick's goggles lenses.

"When we get where we're going, your goggles are mine." The fucker taunted. I growled threateningly, only calming when I heard Riddick's foot tapping in time, with something. I stared at his boot, watching it tap a few more times before Riddick bucked upwards, having the guy get thrown back, dead, as his head hit the light. The others looked back to see they were one man short. They eyed Riddick and I curiously, and I snorted as Riddick shrugged. Toombs started cracking up.

"Four way split!" Toombs crowed, pleased with himself. The others wisely stayed quiet for the duration of the ride.

* * *

"And who is this?" One of the men leered at me and I snarled at him.

"Riddick's whore. Killed one of my men, so figured, she would fit right in." Toombs snorted. The other men stared at me with varying degrees of interest. "How much for the both of 'em?"

I ignored as the prison upkeeps and the mercs hashed out the prices on our heads, instead choosing to pay attention to the locking mechanism on my chains.

They hooked me to the chain further up than Riddick as he was suspended in the air a ways down. As I was getting lowered into the hole, the resounding beat of the prisoners clanging things in unison, added tension for the arrival of fresh meat. Riddick began to pull himself up, spinning to give himself enough room to break his chains, I assumed. I checked my shirt for the few pins I kept in case and began unlocking my cuffs. Just as he broke free, I latched onto the chain,carefully working on my second lock. The cuff fell free, and I looked down to see all threats disposed of. I slid down quickly, noting Riddick staring at something. Or rather, someone.

_Jack._


End file.
